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A treasure trove of iconic artistic works will become freely accessible to the public as their copyrights expire in the United States this New Year’s Day. This transition affects numerous cultural masterpieces created in 1929, including beloved characters, literary classics, and groundbreaking films.
The copyright expiration, which occurs after 95 years, allows these works to be freely shared, copied, and adapted without requiring permission or payment to rights holders. Sound recordings from 1924 will also join the public domain.
January 2024 marks the official expiration on the copyright of Steamboat Willie, the groundbreaking cartoon short film by Disney. So Mickey Mouse is now officially in the public domain! Or the Steamboat Willie version of Mickey anyway.
Our daily curation features both pieces… pic.twitter.com/FTDn7COdwV
— objkt.com (@objktcom) January 3, 2024
Among the most recognizable additions are two legendary cartoon characters: Tintin, who first appeared in a Belgian newspaper, and the spinach-loving sailor Popeye, brought to life by cartoonist Elzie Crisler Segar.
The Duke University School of Law’s Center for the Study of the Public Domain maintains an annual tradition of announcing these newly available works each December. The center’s director, Jennifer Jenkins, noted on their website: “In past years we have celebrated an exciting cast of public domain characters: the original Mickey Mouse and Winnie-the-Pooh, and the final iterations of Sherlock Holmes from Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories. In 2025 copyright expires over more aspects of Mickey from his 1929 incarnations, along with the initial versions of Popeye and Tintin.”
MOUSE, an upcoming title from @FumiHQ, looks simply delightful and is a great example of why copyright expiration is so important. Stuff like this couldn’t exist without the public domain. pic.twitter.com/Ler7LRDgCQ
— Quinn Nelson (@SnazzyLabs) January 2, 2024
Literary enthusiasts will gain unrestricted access to several masterpieces, including William Faulkner’s “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 translation of Erich Maria Remarque’s “All Quiet on the Western Front.”
The cinematic world will welcome the addition of significant films, such as Alfred Hitchcock’s “Blackmail” and John Ford’s first sound film, “The Black Watch.”
Musical compositions from 1929 entering the public domain include Maurice Ravel’s “Bolero” and George Gershwin’s “An American in Paris,” though only recordings made before 1925 will become publicly available.
