{"id":6392,"date":"2024-01-03T11:01:21","date_gmt":"2024-01-03T17:01:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/news\/?p=6392"},"modified":"2024-01-18T16:13:58","modified_gmt":"2024-01-18T22:13:58","slug":"heres-what-entered-the-public-domain-in-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/news\/2024\/01\/03\/heres-what-entered-the-public-domain-in-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Here’s what entered the public domain in 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"
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COURTESY: THE CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF PUBLIC DOMAIN AT DUKE LAW SCHOOL<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Take note, aspiring animators: We’re officially 95 years out from Mickey Mouse’s 1928 debut, which means that Steamboat Willie<\/em> and Plane Crazy<\/em> are fair game for future use. Each year on Jan. 1, enthusiasts watch as a new bevvy of works enters the public domain \u2014 and in the world of intellectual property, 2024 started with a bang.<\/p>\n

Many of the works added to the catalog this year reflect the major sociocultural shifts of the 1920s, and were greeted with the customary controversy on their first outings. This is particularly true of many of 1928\u2019s landmark novels: Lady Chatterley\u2019s Lover <\/em>by D.H. Lawrence, Orlando<\/em> by Virginia Woolf, and Dark Princess <\/em>by W.E.B Du Bois. Major aesthetic strides were also being made in film; The Passion of Joan of Arc<\/em> by Carl Theodor Dryer, starring Ren\u00e9e Jeanne Falconetti, is still regarded as a game-changing work of art, and elsewhere \u201ctalkies\u201d were beginning to take over after their introduction the year prior.<\/p>\n

Audio recordings follow slightly different rules when entering public domain, including a 100-year copyright, compared to the 95 years for film, literature, and written musical compositions. That means that James P. Johnson\u2019s 1923 recording of his song Charleston<\/em>, the tune that set the 1920s roaring, can be downloaded for free from the Library of Congress.<\/p>\n

When a work enters the public domain, the public no longer needs to seek the artist’s permission to copy or use the work. This opens the door for creative riffs on the classics, and makes public domain materials available free of charge.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here are some places to check out the newest creative works now in the public domain:<\/strong><\/p>\n