Originally published at: What hits the public domain on Jan 1? | Boing Boing
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Your mom!!
*sorry, dude, unavoidable punchline.
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Please link to the source you quoted.
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Glad to see the tradition continue!
Here’s a link for 2022:
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I have a bunch of empty Whiskey bottles hitting the public domain, come and get’em.
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A banger for the ages indeed.
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Finally I will be able to publish my erotic novel about Pooh Bear’s romance with promiscuous divorcée Lady Brett Ashley in 1920s Paris.
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Note that this does NOT include the version copyrighted by the Infernal Mouse, who will sue you into oblivion as it owns its own copyrights apparently in perpetuity
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If he had only waited forty years…
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Well that’s true for their animated Pooh for a couple more decades but it’s looking like the Mouse himself will actually become public domain in 2024. For whatever reason (the article says they expected to lose due to public groundswell but I don’t necessarily buy it) they didn’t push congress for yet another copyright extension.
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The “promoted comment” on that Ars Technica article laments that “every photo and recording of WWII will be locked up until our grandchildren are adults,” which is simply untrue. A large number of photos and films were made by member of the US armed forces, and are automatically in the public domain. This may not be true of material captured by war correspondents or foreign military members, of course.
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The “Maple Leaf Rag” entering public domain apparently refers specifically to a 1907 recording (Columbia A-228 by Vess L. Ossman; interesting in that it’s arranged for a band (and banjo solo), not solo piano). I have no idea about the published/written music itself, but I had assumed this post was referring to the composition.
The YouTube link is to a piano roll ostensibly made by Joplin, which (I’d guess) is technically another “work” (or mechanical copy or what have you).
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Hmm I thought copyright covered specific works, and trademark covered a characters look and behaviors.
For example, the Max Fleischer Superman cartoons didn’t have their copyrights renewed and are thus public domain. But if you tried to make new Superman content, you would be getting letters from lawyers.
So for Mickey Mouse, Steamboat Willie will be in the public domain soon (most likely) but the Character - even that iteration is still trademarked. They still use the vintage look for some merchandise. I think you will be able to get away with selling copies of Steam Boat Willie - but I don’t know about making merch or new media based on it.
YMMV. Not legal advice.
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My understanding is that people will be free to remix video and still imagery of the original Mickey Mouse character from Steamboat Willie, sell T-shirts and other merchandise with his image on it, etc. That won’t allow people to use newer images of Mickey that aren’t in public domain yet or use copyrighted names when referring to it.
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A Furry is born.
No offense and can’t wait to read it.
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Scott Joplin died in 1917, so in many jurisdictions his music – as opposed to specific recordings of his music – has been in the public domain for quite some time. For example, here in Germany, copyright in musical works lasts for the life of the composer plus 70 years, so we’ve been at liberty to perform in public or record The Maple Leaf Rag (and many other Scott Joplin pieces) without incurring royalties since 1988. Cracking piece, too.
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When writer Benjamin Hoff published the Tao of Pooh in 1982, using A.A. Milne’s famous stories of adventurous stuffed animals to illustrate the principles of Taoism, he agreed to pay the Milne estate a third of hardcover and 40 percent of paperback profits.
I’m assuming Frederick Crews didn’t come to a similar arrangement for The Pooh Perplex.
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Yeah, the Maple Leaf Rag was composed in 1899 and the composition itself has been in the public domain for quite a while. As have all the other Scott Joplin rags, and quite a lot of other ragtime, most of which predates 1923. There are quite a few Internet archives of sheetmusic for those who want to give this public-domain music new life by playing it, and I highly recommend it as an antidepressant.
It is great that recordings are now entering the public domain too - the more ways to preserve this music, the better.
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