Thousands of artistic works, from “A Farewell to Arms” to the cartoon character Popeye the Sailor, will enter the public domain in the United States on Wednesday.
US copyright law for books, films and other works of art is set to expire after 95 years, while sound recordings since 1924 will also be copyright-free.
By entering the public domain, pieces can be copied, shared, reproduced, or adapted by anyone without paying the rights owner.
This year’s crop includes internationally recognized figures such as the comic character Tintin, who made his debut in a Belgian newspaper in 1929, and Popeye the Sailor, created by cartoonist Elzie Crisler Sager.
Every December, the Center for the Study of the Public Domain publishes a list of cultural works that lose their copyright in the New Year.
The center, part of Duke University School of Law in the southeastern US state of North Carolina, makes the list available on its website for anyone to peruse.
Jennifer Jenkins, the center’s director, writes on its website, “Over the years we have celebrated an exciting cast of public domain characters: the original Mickey Mouse and Winnie-the-Pooh, and the final iteration of Sherlock Holmes from Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories. “
“Copyrights on early versions of Popeye and Tintin as well as more aspects of the 1929 incarnations of Mickey will expire in 2025.”
Literary works entering the American public domain on January 1 include William Faulkner’s novel “The Sound and the Fury”, Ernest Hemingway’s “A Farewell to Arms”, Virginia Woolf’s “A Room of One’s Own”, and the first English novel . Translation of “All Quiet on the Western Front” by German writer Erich Maria Remarque.
The films that will be in the public domain include “Blackmail” directed by Alfred Hitchcock and “The Black Watch”, the first sound film from Oscar-winning director John Ford.
Musical compositions published in 1929, such as French composer Maurice Ravel’s “Bolero” and George Gershwin’s “An American in Paris”, will lose their copyrights, although only recordings made in 1924 or earlier will be in the public domain.
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