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 2024. Since laws vary globally, the copyright status of some works are not uniform.
Countries with life + 70 years With the exception of Belarus (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 For previously unpublished material, those who publish it first will have the publication rights for 25 years. NamesCountryDeathOccupationNotable work Hans Aanrud Writer Tamar Abakelia Sculptor Abdullah Yusuf Ali Translator The Holy Qur'an: Text, Translation and Commentary Dimitri Arakishvili Composer The Legend of Shota Rustaveli Agustín Abarca Painter Walter Armitage Playwright Vladimir Bakaleinikov Composer, conductor Rudolf Bauer Painter Arnold Bax Composer, writer List of compositions by Arnold Bax Harmsen van der Beek Illustrator, commercial artist Noddy Hilaire Belloc Writer Hilaire Belloc bibliography Róbert Berény Painter Sleeping Lady with Black Vase Henri Bernstein Playwright Samson, Mélo Elsa Beskow Writer, illustrator Ugo Betti Playwright, judge The Fugitive Henrik Bull Architect National Theatre Ivan Bunin Writer List of short stories by Ivan Bunin, List of poems by Ivan Bunin John Horne Burns Writer The Gallery Rosario Candela Architect 740 Park Avenue Harold Cazneaux Photographer Cazneaux Tree Ahmed Ghulam Ali Chagla Composer "Qaumi Taranah" Albert Coates Composer, conductor Ruth Crawford Seeger Composer String Quartet 1931 Peter DeRose Composer "Deep Purple" Raoul Dufy Painter Edmund Dulac Illustrator Jean Epstein Film director The Fall of the House of Usher Georges Le Faure Writer Emil Filla Painter Konstanty Ildefons Gałczyński Poet Skumbrie w tomacie Albert Gleizes Painter, writer List of works by Albert Gleizes Milt Gross Cartoonist Guccio Gucci Fashion designer Sophia Hayden Architect The Woman's Building Mary Brewster Hazelton Painter Photographer, writer and surrealist artist Cecil Hepworth Film director, producer Alice in Wonderland (1903 film) Tatsuo Hori Writer The Wind Has Risen Curuppumullage Jinarajadasa Writer Art as a factor in the soul's evolution Joseph Jongen Composer Mass, Op. 130 Emmerich Kálmán Composer Die Csárdásfürstin, Countess Maritza, Die Zirkusprinzessin Thiru. V. Kalyanasundaram Writer Fritz Kirchhoff Film director Attack on Baku Moïse Kisling Painter Eduard Künneke Composer The Cousin from Nowhere Elisabeth Kuyper Composer Jorge de Lima Politician, writer Will Longstaff Painter Menin Gate at Midnight Oskar Luts Writer, playwright Kornel Makuszyński Writer Koziołek Matołek Herman J. Mankiewicz Screenwriter Citizen Kane Emmanuel de Margerie Geographer John Marin Painter Daniel Gregory Mason Composer, music critic Erich Mendelsohn Architect List of works by Erich Mendelsohn Moses Milner Composer Mime Misu Dancer, film director In Nacht und Eis, Das Mirakel Vera Mukhina Sculptor, painter Worker and Kolkhoz Woman Sulaiman Nadvi Writer Khutbat-e-madras Ibrahim Nagi Poet "Al-Atlal" Francesco Saverio Nitti Politician Hisato Ohzawa Composer Piano Concerto No. 3 Eugene O'Neill Playwright Long Day's Journey into Night Francis Picabia Painter List of works by Francis Picabia Joseph Pinchon Illustrator Bécassine Uroš Predić Painter Happy Brothers Alice Prin Model, painter, writer Kiki's Memoirs Sergei Prokofiev Composer, conductor List of compositions by Sergei Prokofiev Vsevolod Pudovkin Film director, screenwriter Roger Quilter Composer Arnold Book of Old Songs Rachilde Writer Monsieur Vénus Graciliano Ramos Writer, translator Vidas secas Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Author The Yearling Django Reinhardt Composer, musician Winold Reiss Painter Winold Reiss industrial murals Pasquale Rizzoli Sculptor Ludomir Różycki Composer Max Sainsaulieu Architect Carnegie Library of Reims Rudolph Schindler Architect Schindler House Edward Shanks Writer Fête Galante Everett Shinn Painter Joseph Stalin Politician Economic Problems of Socialism in the USSR Vladimir Tatlin Painter, architect Tatlin's Tower Neyzen Tevfik Poet, satirist Jérôme Tharaud Writer Dylan Thomas Poet List of works by Dylan Thomas Totius Poet Julian Tuwim Poet "Murzynek Bambo" Jules Van Nuffel Composer In convertendo Dominus Bernard Carra de Vaux 1953 Orientalist Vydūnas Poet Erich Weinert Writer "Der heimliche Aufmarsch" Ben Ames Williams Writer The Unconquered Hank Williams Musician List of songs written by Hank Williams Arthur Wimperis Lyricist, screenwriter The Arcadians, Mrs. Miniver Friedrich Wolf Writer Professor Mamlock Xu Beihong Painter Vsevolod Zaderatsky Composer John Stepan Zamecnik Composer
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 Georges Braque Painter, sculptor The Viaduct at L'Estaque Babu Gulabrai Writer Nâzım Hikmet PoetKız Çocuğu Amar Nath Kak Writer Louis MacNeice Poet, playwright Autumn Journal Laudelino Mejías Composer "Conticinio" Enrique Pérez Arce Politician, writerLa Tambora Rajendra Prasad Politician, writer Hemendra Kumar Roy Writer Laxminarayan Sahu Writer Rahul Sankrityayan Activist, writer Meri Jeevan Yatra Anasuya Shankar Writer Acharya Shivpujan Sahay Writer
Countries with life + 50 years In most countries of Africa and Asia, as well as Belarus, Bolivia and New Zealand, a work enters the public domain 50 years after the creator's death. {| class="wikitable sortable" border="1" style="border-spacing:0 style="width:100%" !Names !Country !Death !Occupation !Notable work |- | Aziz Abaza
| Poet, politician
| Zainal Abidin Ahmad
| Writer, linguist
| W. H. Auden
| Poet
| Malek Bennabi
| Philosopher | Les Conditions de la Renaissance |- | Charles Brasch
| Poet, editor | Landfall |- | Elizabeth Bowen
| Biologist
| Pearl S. Buck
| Novelist | The Good Earth |- | Amílcar Cabral
| Activist | Esta É a Nossa Pátria Bem Amada |- | Noël Coward
| Playwright | Noël Coward on stage and screen |- | John Creasey
| Writer | Gideon's Day |- | Jim Croce
| Musician
| Bobby Darin
| Musician
| Henry Darger
| Novelist, artist | In the Realms of the Unreal |- | Dong Xiwen
| Painter | The Founding Ceremony of the Nation |- | Arthur Freed
| Lyricist, film producer | Singin' in the Rain |- | John Ford
| Director | John Ford filmography |- | Ragnar Frisch
| Economist
| Anthony Gilbert
| Writer | The Vanishing Corpse |- | Martti Haavio
| Poet, Folklorist, Mythologist | Karjalan jumalat, Bjarmien vallan kukoistus ja tuho |- | Elisabeth Hauptmann
| Playwright | The Threepenny Opera (with Bertolt Brecht) |- | Taha Hussein
| Poet, politician | The Days |- | José Alfredo Jiménez
| Songwriter | "El Rey" |- | Lyndon B. Johnson
| Politician
| Raymonde de Kervern
| 1973 | Poet
| Bruce Lee
| Martial artist | Tao of Jeet Kune Do |- | Kathleen Lindsay
| Writer
| Gian Francesco Malipiero
| Composer, musicologist | L'Orfeide |- | Cornelia Meigs
| Children's writer | The Windy Hill |- | Adolfo Mejía Navarro
| Composer | "Pequeña Suite para Orquesta" |- | Nancy Mitford
| Writer | The Pursuit of Love |- | Timo K. Mukka
| Writer | Maa on syntinen laulu |- | Pablo Neruda
| Poet | Canto General, Oda al Gato |- | Robert C. O'Brien
| Writer | Z for Zachariah |- | Kid Ory
| Composer | Red Allen, Kid Ory & Jack Teagarden at Newport |- | Gram Parsons
| Musician
| Isabel Peacocke
| Writer | Cathleen with a 'C''' |- | Pablo Picasso
| Painter | Guernica, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon|- | Pixinguinha
| Composer
| William Plomer
| Writer
| Andy Razaf
| Lyricist | Ain't Misbehavin'|- | Gopal Prasad Rimal
| Poet | Jangi Nishan Hamro|- | Ivan T. Sanderson
| Biologist
| Nigoghos Sarafian | | 1972 | Poet
| Muslim scholar | Works |- | Allan Sherman
| Comedian | "Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh (A Letter from Camp)" |- | Ousmane Diop Socé
| Poet | Contes et légendes d'Afrique noire|- | Abdillahi Suldaan Mohammed Timacade
| Poet
| Bhim Nidhi Tiwari | | 1973 | Poet | Dagbatti|- | J. R. R. Tolkien
| Writer | J. R. R. Tolkien bibliography |- | Valentin Tomberg
| Mystic | Meditations on the Tarot|- | Âşık Veysel
| Composer
| Alan Watts
| Philosopher | Alan Watts bibliography |- | Chic Young
| Cartoonist | Blondie
Countries with life + 80 years Spain has a copyright term of life + 80 years for creators that died before 1987. In Colombia and Equatorial Guinea a work enters the public domain 80 years after the creator's death. NamesCountryDeathOccupationNotable workCarlos ArnichesPlaywrightCarmen KarrActivist, composerFrancisco Rodríguez MarínPoetJosé Jurado de la ParraPoet, playwrightGuillermo ValenciaPoet, translator
Australia and Canada
In 2004 copyright in Australia changed from a "plus 50" law to a "plus 70" law, in line with the United States and the European Union. But the change was not made retroactive (unlike the 1995 change in the European Union which brought some e.g. British authors back into copyright, especially those who died from 1925 to 1944). Hence the work of an author who died before 1955 is normally in the public domain in Australia; but the copyright of authors was extended to 70 years after death for those who died in 1955 or later, and no more Australian authors would come out of copyright until 1 January 2026 (those who died in 1955).
Similarly, Canada amended its Copyright Act in 2022 from a "plus 50" law to a "plus 70" law, coming into force on December 30, 2022, but not reviving expired copyright. No more new authors will come out of copyright in Canada until 1 January 2043 (those who died in 1972). Crown copyright was not changed, thus works published in 1973 entered the public domain in 2024.
United States
Under the Copyright Term Extension Act, books published in 1928, films released in 1928, and other works published in 1928, entered the public domain in 2024. Sound recordings that were published in 1923 and unpublished works whose authors died in 1953 also entered the public domain.
Public Domain Day 2024 attracted unparalleled media interest, primarily for marking the long-awaited arrival of Steamboat Willie, featuring the earliest incarnations of Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse, into the public domain. The short film's owner, The Walt Disney Company, had previously lobbied for the extension of copyright length in the United States in order to prevent the film and the character of Mickey from entering the public domain; the result of that lobby effort was the passage of the Copyright Term Extension Act in 1998. Additional works that were part of this year's wave of entrants to the American public domain included notable literature such as Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence, Bertolt Brecht's play The Threepenny Opera in its original German, Orlando: A Biography by Virginia Woolf, Dark Princess by W. E. B. Du Bois, Home to Harlem by Claude McKay, The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall, and the children's books The House at Pooh Corner by A. A. Milne and Millions of Cats by Wanda Gág; notable films such as Buster Keaton's The Cameraman, the first all-talking full-length feature film Lights of New York, and Charlie Chaplin's The Circus; the musical Animal Crackers''; notable popular songs such as Cole Porter's song "Let's Do It, Let's Fall in Love"; and sound recordings by such performers as Bessie Smith and Ida Cox.
Worldwide On May 28, 2024, American ballet choreographer Eliot Feld announced he will donate all his 149 ballets to the public domain.
On March 13, 2024, The J. Paul Getty Museum announced that it will release 88 thousand images into the public domain.
See also List of American films of 1928 1953 in literature and 1973 in literature for deaths of writers Public Domain Day Creative Commons
References
External links