January 1 is a day to celebrate, not just because it’s the beginning of a new year and all the associated new promises and possibilities, but also because it signals annual growth of the public domain.
All copyrights expire at the end of the year, most works that were published before 1978 lose copyright protection 95 years after publication, so works from 1926 (and earlier) are now all free from copyright restrictions. Huzzah!
While the public domain has been growing for the past few years, this year has some particularly exciting works in it. Such as:
Additionally, some excellent films are also now in the public domain.
And some noteworthy musical compositions.
The public domain is crucial to our cultural heritage. The works that make up the public domain belong to all of us, unrestricted and rights free, to reuse, remix, and/or reproduce as we choose, without worrying about infringing upon someone else’s rights.
So go out and screen one of these movies for your neighborhood, remix one of these songs into a modern hit, or create a new story featuring these characters because they’re yours and you can.
For more information on Public Domain Day 2022, check out this excellent blog post from the Duke University Libraries.