When a work's copyright expires, it enters the public domain. The following is a list of creators whose works entered the public domain in 2021. 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 Belarus (where the copyright protection is life + 50 years) and Spain (which has a copyright term of life + 80 years for creators that died before 1987), a work enters the public domain in Europe 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 For previously unpublished material, those who publish it first will have the publication rights for 25 years. The list is sorted alphabetically and includes a notable work of the creator that entered the public domain on 1 January 2021.
NamesCountryDeathOccupationNotable work Henry H. Arnold General Published works Octave-Louis Aubert Writer, journalist Le Livre de la Bretagne Irving Bacheller Writer, journalist Eben Holden Sergei Bakhrushin Historian Miklós Bánffy Nobleman, politician, writer A Transylvanian Tale Pavel Bazhov Writer The Malachite Box Max Beckmann Painter, draftsman, printmaker, sculptor William Rose Benét Writer, poet, editor Saturday Review of Literature, The Reader's Encyclopedia Lev Berg Geographer, biologist and ichthyologist Ben Black Composer, lyricist "Moonlight and Roses" Léon Blum Politician Les Problèmes de la Paix General, Historian Works D. K. Broster Novelist The Flight of the Heron Herbert Ashwin Budd Painter Joe Burke Songwriter, Composer, pianist "Dancing With Tears in My Eyes", "Painting the Clouds With Sunshine", "Rambling Rose", "Tip-Toe Through the Tulips" Edgar Rice Burroughs Author of adventure and science fiction Tarzan and Barsoom J. Carlos Cartoonist, illustrator, graphic designer, sculptor Basilio Cascella Artist Alfonso Daniel Rodríguez Castelao Painter Neville William Cayley Ornithologist & artist "What Bird is That?", 1931 Francesco Cilea Composer L'arlesiana and Adriana Lecouvreur Leôncio Correia (pt) Lawyer, politician, writer and journalist Erle Cox Journalist and science fiction writer Out of the Silence Walter Damrosch Composer Frank Parker Day Author and academic Warwick Deeping Author Sorrell and Son Buddy DeSylva Songwriter Avalon, Look For the Silver Lining, Somebody Loves Me Edward d'Evry Composer Lancelot de Mole Engineer & inventor Tracked armoured vehicle, 1911 Clément Doucet Composer, pianist Anatoly Drozdov (ru) Composer, pianist Theodor Duesterberg Politician The Steel Helmet and Hitler Walter Eucken Economist Works Percy Keese Fitzhugh Author of children and young adult literature Yevgeny Gunst Composer John Gould Fletcher Poet Selected Poems Ernest Haycox Author of Western fiction John Rippiner Heath Doctor, musician, composer Three Macedonian Sketches William Hovgaard Professor, Writer Submarine Boats, The Voyages Of The Norsemen To America Heydar Huseynov Philosopher Dialectical Materialism Rex Ingram Film director, producer, writer and actor The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, The Prisoner of Zenda George Cecil Ives Writer, penal reformer English Prisons Today Émile Jaques-Dalcroze Composer, music educator Johannes V. Jensen Author The Long Journey Charles L. Johnson Composer Al Jolson Songwriter Eddie Kilfeather Composer Alfred Korzybski Engineer and founder of Institute of General Semantics Science and Sanity: An Introduction to Non-Aristotelian Systems and General Semantics Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky Writer Harold Laski Political theorist, economist A Grammar of Politics Harry Lauder Comedian, Singer/songwriter Roamin' in the Gloamin' Lilian Sophia Locke Suffragette & Trade-unionist Secretary of the United Council for Woman's Suffrage, 1890s Heinrich Mann Writer Professor Unrat Edgar Lee Masters Writer Spoon River Anthology F. O. Matthiessen literary critic American Renaissance: Art and Expression in the Age of Emerson and Whitman Marcel Mauss Sociologist The Gift Ernest John Moeran Composer Alfred Edward Moffat Composer, collector of music Meister-Schule der alten Zeit Edna St Vincent Millay Poet, playwright Renascence Ali Moustafa Mosharafa Theoretical physicist Lewis Muir Songwriter Ragtime Cowboy Joe Pavel Muratov Writer, art historian Images of Italy Nikolai Myaskovsky Composer Symphony No. 6 (Myaskovsky) Vaslav Nijinsky Ballet dancer and choreographer Diary George Orwell Journalist and author Animal Farm, Nineteen Eighty-Four also see George Orwell bibliography Cesare Pavese Writer, translator The Moon and the Bonfires Max Pemberton Novelist of adventure and mystery literature Octávio Pinto Composer, architect Ernest Poole Writer His Family Gustaf John Ramstedt Explorer, linguist, diplomat Seitsemän retkeä itään R. R. Ryan Author Eliel Saarinen Architect Works Rafael Sabatini Writer The Sea Hawk, Scaramouche, The Odissey of Captain Blood, Bellarion the Fortunate Theophrastos Sakellaridis Composer, conductor Ο Βαφτιστικός Guðjón Samúelsson Architect Hallgrímskirkja, National Theatre of Iceland, Akureyrarkirkja Joseph Schumpeter Economist Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy Milton Schwarzwald Director, composer George Bernard Shaw Writer Man and Superman, Pygmalion, Saint Joan Adaline Shepherd Composer Forrest Shreve Botanist Works Martinus Sieveking Composer, music teacher Jan Smuts Statesman, military leader, and philosopher Holism and Evolution John M. Stahl Film Director and Producer Father Was a Fullback Olaf Stapledon Philosopher and science fiction author Star Maker, Last and First Men and Odd John Henry L. Stimson Politician Democracy And Nationalism In Europe Tatiana Sukhotina-Tolstaya Painter and memoirist Attilio Teruzzi Politician Cirenaica Verde Trilussa Poet Works Orhan Veli Kanık Poet Garip, Collected Poems Xavier Villaurrutia Poet, Playwright Works Archibald P. Wavell General Generals And Generalship Kurt Weill Composer The Threepenny Opera Yi Gwangsu Writer, independence activist Heartless
Entering the public domain in countries with life + 80 years Spain (for creators that died before 1987), Colombia and Equatorial Guinea have a copyright term of life + 80 years. The list is sorted alphabetically and includes one notable work that entered the public domain on 1 January 2021 for each creator.
+List of authorsNamesCountryDeathOccupationNotable workJ.-H. Rosny aîné WriterThe Quest for Fire 1940Teacher, writerManuel Azaña 1940Politician, political writer, Prime MinisterJulián Besteiro 27 September 1940 E. F. Benson Writer, archaeologistMapp and LuciaMikhail Bulgakov Writer, playwright, medical doctorThe Master and Margarita 25 November 1940Flamenco singer and guitaristPhilip Francis Nowlan WriterArmageddon 2419 A.D.F. Scott Fitzgerald Novelist, essayist, screenwriter, and short-story writerThis Side of Paradise, The Beautiful and Damned, The Great Gatsby and Tender Is the Night 28 June 1940Cartoonist 1940Playwright BibliographyLouis J. Panella Composer 1940Businessman 1940Musicologist, music criticMaría Vinyals 1940Publicist, essayist 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 Chris van Abkoude Writer, Novelist Pietje Bell Vai. Mu. Kothainayaki Ammal NovelistLady Cynthia AsquithAuthor and editorThis Mortal Coil Rajshekhar Basu Chemist Eric Temple BellMathematician and science fiction writer Albert Camus Philosopher, author The Stranger A. Chakravarti Professor Indira Devi Chaudhurani Musician Sudhindranath Dutta Poet, journalist Victor Rousseau EmanuelAuthorJohn Russell FearnAuthor M. Raghava Iyengar 1960 Literary scholar Jigar Moradabadi Poet Yeh Hai Maikada Bal Krishna Sharma Naveen Poet, journalist, activist Elsie J. Oxenham Children's novelist Abbey Series of books Boris Pasternak Poet, author Doctor ZhivagoEden PhillpottsAuthor, poet and dramatistThe Farmer's Wife Kesari Balakrishna Pillai Literary critic, journalist Kesari Nathuram Premi Poet, publisher Navaratna Rama Rao 1960 Political leader, scholar Sushila Samad Poet, journalist Sripada Krishnamurty Sastry Poet Mahamahopadhyaya Kshitimohan Sen Professor Acharya Chatursen Shastri Writer Dharamputra Krishnalal Shridharani Poet, playwright Nevil Shute Aeronautical engineer, novelist On the Beach Victor Sjöström Film director, actor The Phantom Carriage C. J. Thomas Playwright, academic, artist Dadasaheb Torne Film director Shree Pundalik
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, Egypt and Uruguay, a work enters the public domain 50 years after the creator's death. NamesCountryDeathOccupationNotable work Abdul Hosein Amini Theologian Al-GhadirRita Angus 25 January 1970PainterCass Shmuel Yosef Agnon Writer The Bridal Canopy Fernando Arbello Musician Otto Baecker Cinematographer GoldArchibald Baxter 10 August 1970Socialist, pacifistWe Will Not Cease William Beaudine Film director, actor Boys Will Be Boys George Blair Film Director R. V. C. Bodley Army officer, author Algeria From Within Louise Bogan Poet Body of This Death Vera Brittain Writer Testament of Youth William J. Brown Architect Mohamed Fadhel Ben Achour Theologian WorksDulce Carman 1970AuthorNeath the Maori Moon Rudolf Carnap Philosopher Der Logische Aufbau der Welt Choe Hyeon-bae 23 March 1970 Educationalist Selected publications Poet Works Charles Cotton 29 June 1970 Geologist Geomorphology of New Zealand Mohamed Abdelaziz Djaït Theologian Works William Dobell Artist Mr Joshua SmithGuy EndoreAuthor, screenwriterThe Werewolf of Paris E. M. Forster Writer Works Babbis Friis-Baastad Children's writer Ikke ta Bamse Erle Stanley Gardner Author, lawyer Perry Mason series of books Maurice Gemayel Politician Tripoli and Decentralization L. Wolfe Gilbert Songwriter Down Yonder Rube Goldberg Cartoonist, News reporter, Sculptor, Engineer John Gunther Author Death Be Not Proud Muhsin al-Hakim 1970 Theologian Minhaj as-Saleheen Alice Hamilton Physician, research scientist Industrial Poisons in the United States Lawren Harris Painter Marlen Haushofer Writer Erich Heckel Artist Roquairol Jimi Hendrix Musician, singer-songwriter "Purple Haze" Roman Ingarden Philosopher The Literary Work of Art Michał Kalecki Economist Próba teorii koniunktury William Archibald Mackintosh Economist Economic Problems Of The Prairie Provinces Leopoldo Marechal Writer Adam Buenosayres François Mauriac Writer Thérèse DesqueyrouxBruce McLaren 2 June 1970Racing car driverBruce McLaren: From the Cockpit Yukio Mishima Novelist, playwright, poet, writer, essayist, critic Works Gamal Abdel Nasser Politician Philosophy of Revolution Charles Olson Poet Works John Dos Passos Novelist U.S.A. trilogy Waldo Peirce Painter Legends of the Hudson Vladimir Propp Folklorist Morphology of the Tale Alf Prøysen Musician, Writer, Composer Works Erich Maria Remarque Novelist All Quiet on the Western Front Ali Riahi Musician Gonzalo Roig Composer Cecilia ValdésMark Rothko 25 February 1970Abstract painterBlack on Maroon Bertrand Russell Philosopher, mathematician Principia Mathematica Nelly Sachs Poet, Writer Works Ruth Sawyer Writer Roller Skates Slim Harpo Blues Musician I'm a King Bee William Stewart Wallace Historian Encyclopedia of Canada Hassan Taqizadeh Politician Old Iranian Calendars Sophie Treadwell Playwright Machinal Jacob Viner Economist Works Otto Heinrich Warburg Physiologist The Metabolism of TumoursLeonard Wild 23 July 1970Agricultural scientist, writerAn Experiment in Self-government, Soils and Manures in New Zealand Harry M. Woods Songwriter When the Red, Red Robin (Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin' Along)Abraham Zapruder 30 August 1970Clothing manufacturerZapruder film Mahmoud Zulfikar DirectorFilmography
Entering the public domain in Australia