When a work's copyright expires, it enters the public domain. The following is a list of works that entered the public domain in 2019. Since laws vary globally, the copyright status of some works are not uniform.
Entering the public domain in countries with life + 70 years With the exception of Spain (which has a copyright term of Life + 80 years for creators that died before 1987), a work enters the public domain in the European Union 70 years after the creator's death, if it was published during the creator's lifetime. For previously unpublished material, those who publish it first will have the publication rights for 25 years. Russia uses Life + 74 for authors who worked during World War II, otherwise copyright is Life + 70. The list is sorted alphabetically and includes a notable work of the creator that entered the public domain on January 1, 2019.
Names Country Death Occupation Notable work Alexander Aaronsohn 1948 Author With the Turks in Palestine Sabahattin Ali Novelist §Works Francisco Alonso Composer Las LeandrasCarl Thomas AndersonCartoonist Henry Antonin Artaud Dramatist §Works Kan'ichi Asakawa Historian The Russo-Japanese Conflict: Its Causes and Issues Gertrude Atherton Novelist §Works Jatindramohan Bagchi Poet Milan Begović Writer Pustolov pred vratima Hulusi Behçet Physician Clinical and Practical Syphilis, Diagnosis and Related Dermatoses Ruth Benedict Anthropologist The Chrysanthemum and the Sword Frank Benford Physicist The law of anomalous numbers Gertrude Barrows Bennett Writer of science fiction and fantasy The Citadel of Fear, The Heads of Cerberus, Claimed Nikolai Berdyaev Philosopher §Works Folke Bernadotte Diplomat, nobleman §Works Georges Bernanos Writer The Diary of a Country Priest Hendrik van der Bijl Engineer Theory and Operating Characteristics of the Thermionic Amplifier Nasib al-Bitar Jurist Al-Fareeda Fi Hisab Al-FareedhahAndré Bloch Mathematician La conception actuelle de la theorie des fonctions entieres et meromorphes Joseph Friedrich Nicolaus Bornmüller Botanist Beiträge zur Flora Mazedoniens Gordon Bottomley Poet, playwright The Crier By Night Harry Brearley Metallurgist Knotted String Sophonisba Breckinridge Economist, social scientist Marriage and the Civic Rights of Women Robert Briffault Anthropologist, novelist The Mothers: A Study of the Origins of Sentiments and Institutions Abraham Brill Psychiatrist Psychoanalysis: Its Theories and Practical Application Alice Brown Writer §Works Subhadra Kumari Chauhan Poet Jhansi Ki Rani Hiram Alfred Cody Writer, Clergyman The Frontiersman: A Tale of the Yukon Umberto Coromaldi Painter Happy Mother Osamu Dazai Author The Setting Sun, No Longer Human Mary Angela Dickens Writer Cross Currents Dildar Poet Ey Reqîb Janus Djurhuus PoetLawrence DonovanNovelist and pulp fiction author Rheta Childe Dorr Journalist, Suffragist What Eight Million Women Want O. Douglas Author Olivia in India Sergei Eisenstein Film Director Battleship Potemkin Pompeu Fabra Grammarian Diccionari General de la Llengua Catalana Ferdinand I of Bulgaria King of Bulgaria (1887–1918), author, botanist, entomologist Jacques Feyder Film Director, screenwriter, Crainquebille William Arms Fisher Composer, writer Zelda Fitzgerald Novelist Save Me the Waltz Gustaf Fjæstad Artist Karl Gebhardt Doctor Chirurgische krankengymnastik Umberto Giordano Composer Andrea Chénier Susan Glaspell Playwright, novelist Trifles Arshile Gorky Painter The Liver Is the Cock's Comb D. W. Griffith Film director, producer The Birth of a Nation, Broken Blossoms Alexander Alfonsovich Grossheim Botanist Frederick Philip Grove Writer, translator Settlers of the Marsh Uzeyir Hajibeyov Composer Leyli and Majnun Thomas William Hanforth Composer Ernest George Henham Writer Furze the Cruel Ernst Herzfeld Archaeologist Die Ausgrabungen von Samarra Johan Hjort Marine Biologist The Depths of the Ocean Seth Hoffman Artist Vicente Huidobro Poet Altazor o el viaje en paracaídas Victor Ido Writer, journalist De paupers William Henry Irwin Journalist, writer The House That Shadows Built Susan Sutherland Isaacs Psychologist Intellectual Growth in Young Children Hédi Khayachi 1948 Painter Kan Kikuchi Novelist Tōjūrō no Koi Egon Kisch Journalist, writer Schreib das auf, Kisch! August Köhler PhysicistGedanken zu einem neuen Beleuchtungsverfahren für mikrophotographische Zwecke Friedrich Freiherr Kress von Kressenstein General Mit dem Turken zum Suezkanal Nikolai Yakovlevich Kuznetsov Entomologist The Eurasian Arctic Fauna and Its Origin Franz Lehár Composer List of operas and operettas Rudolf Franz Lehnert Photographer Maximilian Lenz Artist A World, A Song of Spring Monteiro Lobato Novelist, publisher Sítio do Picapau Amarelo (novel series) Ross Lockridge Jr. Novelist Raintree County Emil Ludwig Biographer Bismarck Edith Balfour Lyttelton Writer, spiritualist Nikola Marinov Painter Jan Masaryk Politician Speaking to My Country Ilya Mashkov Painter A. E. W. Mason Author, politician The Four Feathers Gerardo Matos Rodríguez Composer La cumparsita Claude McKay Writer§Works Ernest Merritt Physicist, educator Kerry Mills Composer Harry A. Millis Economist Wesley Clair Mitchell Economist The Role of Money in Economic Theory Thomas Mofolo Writer Chaka Prosper Montagné Chef, Gastronome Larousse Gastronomique Sylvanus Morley Archeologist The Ancient Maya Na Hye-sŏk Painter Works Baldassarre Negroni Film director The Courier of Moncenisio Fred Niblo Film Director, actor Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ Alan Odle 1948 Illustrator Edith Olivier Writer Alexander the Corrector: The Eccentric Life of Alexander Cruden Conal Holmes O'Connell O'Riordan Dramatist, novelist Adam of Dublin Margaret Pedler Romance Author Barbarian Lover John J. Pershing General My Experiences in the World War Albert Pollard Historian The Evolution of Parliament Manuel Ponce Composer Estrellita Abram Ranovich Historian On Early Christianity Charles Herbert Reilly Architect Representative British Architects of the Present Day Charles Grant Robertson Historian, novelist England under the Hanoverians J.-H. Rosny jeune Writer Sultanzade Sabahaddin Sociologist The Witness Husain Salaahuddin Writer The Story of Thakurufaan the Great Maria Olga de Moraes Sarmento da Silveira Writer, feminist Problema Feminista Kurt Schwitters Artist Das Undbild Antonin Sertillanges Priest, author What Jesus Saw from the Cross Lamed Shapiro 1948 Author Di yidishe melukhe un andere zakhn D. D. Sheehan Politician, author Ireland since Parnell David Shterenberg Painter and graphic artist §Works Charles Silvestre Novelist §WorksAnnie M. P. Smithson 21 February 1948Author, nurse.The Walk of a Queen Marjory Stephenson Biochemist Montague Summers Author and clergymanMalleus Maleficarum Alexander du Toit Geologist Our Wandering Continents; An Hypothesis of Continental Drifting Richard C. Tolman Physicist The Principles of Statistical Mechanics Karl Valentin Comedian §Works José Vianna da Motta Pianist, composer §Works Franco Vittadini Composer Anima allegra Augusto Weberbauer Botanist Die Pflanzenwelt der peruanischen Anden in ihren Grundzügen Paul Wegener Film Director, screenwriter The Student of Prague Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari Composer Il segreto di Susanna George MacKinnon Wrong Historian The Conquest of New France Muhammad Amin Zaki 1948 Historian A Short History of the Kurds and Kurdistan Andrei Zhdanov PoliticianСоветская литература, Стахановцы настоящие большевики производства
Entering the public domain in countries with life + 60 years In Bangladesh, India, and Venezuela a work enters the public domain 60 years after the creator's death.
NamesCountryDeathOccupationNotable work Eleanor Hallowell Abbott novelist, poet, short story writer Molly Make-Believe, But Once A Year: Christmas Stories Johannes R. Becher politician, novelist, and poet Auferstanden aus Ruinen James Branch Cabell fantasy writer Jurgen, A Comedy of Justice, Biography of the Life of Manuel Virginia Brindis de Salas Poet Pregón de Marimorena Harry Cohn Filmmaker E. Everett Evans Science fiction author Margiad Evans illustrator, novelist, poet Country Dance, Autobiography, A Ray of Darkness, The Nightingale Silenced Dorothy Canfield Fisher literary critic, memoirist, novelist, short story writer, translator Understood Betsy Marjorie Flack children's writer, illustrator writer of The Story About Ping, illustrator of The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes Lion Feuchtwanger writer, journalist, novelist and playwright author of Jud Süß (Süss, the Jew) Angelina Weld Grimké playwright, poet Rachel Juan Ramón Jiménez Poet Michael Joseph Writer, publisher How to Write Serial Fiction, Puss in Books: A collection of stories about cats, The Sword in the Scabbard Maxim Kopf Painter, graphic artist and sculptor paintings from Tahiti and the Marquesas Islands Cyril M. Kornbluth science fiction writer The Little Black Bag, The Marching Morons Henry Kuttner Writer of fantasy, horror fiction, and science fiction. The Graveyard Rats, Mimsy Were the Borogoves Painter Rose Macaulay biographer, novelist, travel writer The World My Wilderness, The Towers of Trebizond Ismail Marzuki composer, songwriter Gugur Bunga, Halo, Halo Bandung, Indonesia Pusaka Johnston McCulley Author Zorro G. E. Moore journal editor, philosopher Principia Ethica, A Defence of Common Sense Charles Langbridge Morgan novelist, playwright The Burning Glass Alfred Noyes playwright, poet, short story writer The Highwayman, Shakespeare's Kingdom Seumas O'Sullivan magazine editor, poet Twilight People, Verses Sacred and Profane Elliot Paul journalist, novelist, screenwriter Life and Death of a Spanish Town, Linden on the Saugus Branch H. G. Peter Cartoonist Wonder Woman Nicolae Petrescu-Comnen social scientist Accidente profesionale (Work-related Accidents), Câteva considerațiuni asupra socialismului și asupra roadelor sale (Some Musings on Socialism and Its Results Rudolph Rocker anarchist publisher and activist Nationalism and Culture Peig Sayers seanchaí (traditional Gaelic storyteller and historian) Peig, Machnamh Seanmhná (An Old Woman's Reflections) Robert W. Service poet The Shooting of Dan McGrew, The Cremation of Sam McGee J. C. Squire historian, literary critic, magazine editor, poet Robin Hood: a farcical romantic pastoral, Shakespeare as a Dramatist John Reed Swanton anthropologist, folklorist, linguist The Indian Tribes of North America, Emanuel Swedenborg, Prophet of the Higher Evolution Ethel Turner children's writer, novelist Seven Little Australians Ralph Vaughan Williams Composer A London Symphony Geoffrey Willans children's writer, humorist, novelist, screenwriter Down with Skool! A Guide to School Life for Tiny Pupils and their Parents, Whizz for Atomms: A Guide to Survival in the 20th Century for Fellow Pupils, their Doting Maters, Pompous Paters and Any Others who are Interested
Entering the public domain in countries with life + 50 years In most countries of Africa and Asia, as well as Belarus, Bolivia, Canada, New Zealand and Uruguay; a work enters the public domain 50 years after the creator's death.