Every January 1 in the Books department, we like to make an extra toast for a concurrent holiday: Public Domain Day.

One precedent is the Google Books case, in which authors and publishers sued Google to block its effort to create a searchable database of written works by digitizing copyrighted works along with ...

There’s also some complexity when it comes to music. Sound recordings from 1924 are now in the public domain, while 1929 ...

A satirical look at how this year's new public domain entries could be turned into horror, from Mickey Mouse and Popeye to ...

By law, all films, music, and books created in the United States are protected under copyright. But copyrights eventually ...

With the beginning of 2025, paintings by the likes of Henri Matisse, Frida Kahlo and André Derain are entering the public ...

In the U.S., the length of copyright protection for works published before 1978 is 95 years. That means works from 1929 and ...

As we welcome 2025, everyone can also welcome these iconic works as they entered the public domain in the U.S.

At the turn of the new year, several pieces of classic media entered the public domain, making them free to use by anyone.

And while we’re grateful for the many public school educators who helped ... to browse through their collection of children’s books. Although she’ll always gravitate toward books from ...

Popeye’s very first iteration, who didn’t eat spinach to gain strength, is now free to copy, share, and adapt.

Many 1929 cultural works have now gone into the public domain, including tracks like ‘Singin’ In The Rain’ and ‘Ain’t Misbehavin’, as well as characters like Popeye and TinTin.