When a work's copyright expires, it enters the public domain. The following is a list of creators whose works enter the public domain in 2027. 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 (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 For previously unpublished material, those who publish it first will have the publication rights for 25 years. In addition several other countries in the world have a limit of 70 years. The list is sorted alphabetically and includes a notable work of the creator. NamesCountryDeathOccupationNotable workPietro Badoglio GeneralLa guerra d'Etiopia,L'Italia nella seconda guerra mondialeJulien Benda WriterBibliographyÉmile BorelMathematicianLes probabilités denombrables et leurs applications arithmétiques Bertold Brecht Playwright The Threepenny Opera, Life of Galileo, Mother Courage and Her Children, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, and other works Painter A. M. BurrageWriter ComposerCompositions Francisco de Aquino Correia Writer Charles Fouqueray Painter Alexander Gretchaninov Composer Selected works Evelyn Beatrice Hall Writer The Friends of Voltaire Mohammed Hussein Heikal Novelist ZeinabIrène Joliot-Curie Chemist Aino Kallas , Writer Sudenmorsian, The Pastor of Reigi,Barbara von TisenhusenPaul Léautaud WriterWorksLee Jung-seob PainterPaintingsGuido Leto PoliticianPublicationsÉvariste Lévi-Provençal OrientalistHistoire de l'Espagne musulmaneWalter de la MareWriterMemoirs of a MidgetArchibald LowWriter and inventorA. A. Milne Writer Winnie-the-Pooh Nicos Nicolaides Painter Egyptian, 1917Vladimir ObruchevWriter and geologistPlutoniaBob OlsenWriterGiovanni Papini WriterPublicationsFletcher PrattWriter Alex Raymond Writer Flash Gordon Vida Ravenscroft Sutton Playwright The Pilgrims' Holiday Paul Renner Designer Futura Jackson Pollock PainterJacques Sadoul PoliticianWorksCaroline SnedekerWriterDownright Dencey, The Forgotten DaughterJack SnowWriterThe Magical Mimics in Oz, The Shaggy Man of Oz Austin Osman Spare Draughtsman, writer, painter The Book of Pleasure, The Focus of Life Gustav Suits Poet Franz Tamayo Writer, politicianF. Orlin TremaineWriter and editor Michael Ventris Classics scholar, philologist Documents in Mycenaean Greek,Introducing the Minoan Language Amy Cripps VernonWriterReşat Nuri Güntekinwriter, storywriter, and playwright Çalıkuşu
Countries with life + 60 years
In Bangladesh, India, and Venezuela a work enters the public domain 60 years after the creator's death. Names Country Death Occupation Notable work Ralph Allen Writer, journalist Peace River Country Lauro Ayestarán Musicologist La música en el UruguayAndré BretonWriter, poetSurrealist ManifestoJan Brzechwa Poet Deems Taylor Composer, music critic Walt Disney Filmmaker C. S. Forester WriterHoratio Hornblower, The African Queen, The General Lloyd Garrett Tenor, composer Alberto Giacometti Sculptor, painter The Palace at 4 a.m., L'Homme au doigt, Grande tête mince, L'Homme qui marche I, Large Standing Woman I, Monumental Head Erik Lindberg Sculptor, engraver Nobel Prize medal César Batlle Pacheco Politician, Journalist Olhinto María Simoes Poet, journalist La sombra de los plátanosCordwainer SmithScience fiction writer, professor, military officerPsychological Warfare, Norstrilia, Scanners Live in Vain, Alpha Ralpha Boulevard, A Planet Named ShayolEvelyn Waugh WriterVile Bodies, A Handful of DustMohamed Fawzi Singer, MusicianKassamanMohamed El Qasabgi MusicianRaq El HabibBadie' Khayri PlaywrightHassan wa Murqus wa CohenSayyid Qutb WriterMa'alim fi al-Tariq, Fi Zilal al-Quran
Countries with life + 50 years
In most countries of Africa and Asia, as well as Belarus, Bolivia, New Zealand, and Egypt, a work enters the public domain 50 years after the creator's death. NamesCountryDeathOccupationNotable work Zainul Abedin Painter Famine Sketches Delia Bennett Quilter Francis Oswald Bennett Author, doctor March of the little men Benjamin Britten Composer Compositions Chen Hengzhe Author One Day Cheng Xiaoqing Author, translator Works Agatha Christie Author Agatha Christie bibliography Stuart Cloete Author Turning Wheels Kazuo Dan Author House on Fire (novel) Feng Xuefeng Author Percy Leo Fowler Author, broadcaster Brown Conflict: A Tale of White Man and Maori, 1861-62 Funahashi Seiichi Author Portrait of Madame Yuki (novel) Daniel F. Galouye SF Author Dark Universe Vince Guaraldi Composer, musician "Linus and Lucy" Guo Xiaochuan Poet Han Sorya Author Jackals Howard Hughes Film director and producer Hell's Angels Fritz Lang Film director, screenwriter, producer Fritz Lang filmography Munro Leaf Author The Story of Ferdinand Painter Mercado al Aire Libre Li Jinfa Poet, sculptor Poetry Liao Chi-chun Painter Lin Yutang Author, translator Works Ma Ke Composer, musicologist Music for Nanniwan André Malraux Author La Condition Humaine Mao Zedong Politician Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung Robert L. May Retailer Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Gildardo Montoya Musician, songwriter "Plegaria Vallenata" Ogiwara Seisensui Author, poet Edgar Pangborn SF Author A Mirror for Observers Crescencio Salcedo Flautist, songwriter "El Año Viejo", "La Múcura" Mitsuko Shiga Poet Thomas Burnett Swann SF Author, poet The Minotaur TrilogyMohamed El-TabiiJournalistPhilip TaftLabor historian The Structure and Government of Labor UnionsChōzaburō TanakaBotanist, mycologistMax TauWriter, editorEvert TaubeSongwriter, musician"Calle Schewens vals"Mary S. TaylorBotanistA Study of Nardia LescuriiPhoebe Atwood TaylorWriterThe Cape Cod MysteryMinerva TeichertPainterThe Madonna of 1847Nazım TerzioğluMathematicianAlbert TessierHistorian, film makerT. H. TetensJournalist, writerThe New Germany and the Old NazisGiorgos ThemelisPoet, essayist, playwrightDentrokiposHans ThirringPhysicistCecil ThomasSculptorBromhead MemorialEpaminondas ThomopoulosPainterJohn ThompsonPoetStilt JackRuth Plumly ThompsonWriterThe Royal Book of OzAdam Bruce ThomsonPainterBertha Tideman-WijersComposerSmall Suite for CarillonIvo TijardovićComposer, writer, painterLittle FloramyeMabel F. TimlinEconomistMark TobeyPainterBarbara Euphan ToddWriterWorzel Gummidge Guillermo Tolentino Sculptor Bonifacio Monument, UP OblationSergey TolstovArchaeologist, ethnographerOld KhwarezmElihan TorePoliticianTürkistan kaygısıTorii KotondoPainter, woodblock printerRalph TownsendWriter, consulWays That Are DarkWillie TriceSongwriter, musicianJuan Manuel TrujilloEssayistDalton TrumboScreenwriterSpartacus screenplayPál TuránMathematicianGrace TurnbullPainter, sculptor, writerPython of India (sculpture)George TzavellasScreenwriter, directorThe Counterfeit CoinStephen UllmannLinguistThe Principles of SemanticsAntoni UniechowskiIllustratorAnnie UreArcheologistWorksFrancisco UrondoAuthorWorksPeter UryComposer, playwright, journalistWorksAlison UttleyAuthorWorks Valentin Vaala Director, screenwriter Ihmiset suviyössä Tamara Vakhvakhishvili Composer Works Diego Valeri Poet, critic Mall Valk Ceramist Works Adam Vetulani Historian Works Vi Huyền Đắc Playwright Renata Viganò Writer L'Agnese va a morire William G. Vinal Naturalist, educator Nikolai Virta Writer Odinochestvo Luchino Visconti Director, screenwriter The Leopard Mark Vishniak Writer Years of Emigration, 1919–1969 André-Léon Vivrel Painter, illustrator Kathe Volkart-Schlager Composer Vladimir Vranić Mathematician Vjerojatnost i statistika Clara Coltman Vyvyan Travel writer On Timeless Shores: Journeys in Ireland Ernest Wallcousins Illustrator, painter Illustrations for Myths and Legends of Babylonia and Assyria Martha Walter Impressionist painter Motherhood Oliver Warner Naval historian, writer Works Ned Washington Lyricist Lyrics to "When You Wish Upon a Star" Mark Hanna Watkins Linguist, anthropologist A Grammar of Chichewa Paul Weatherwax Botanist, botanical illustrator Works David L. Webster Physicist Works Isabelle Clark Percy West Painter, printmaker, designer Judith Westphalen Painter Harvey Samuel Whistler Violinist, composer "Introducing the Positions for Violin" Marjorie Whitaker Author Works Minor White Photographer Martin Wickramasinghe Author Gamperaliya Dorothy Wilding Photographer Portrait of Lady Angela Forbes Clifton Williams Composer Works Clara McDonald Williamson Painter Git 'Long Little Dogies Cherry Wilson Novelist Thunder Breaks Fritz Winter Painter Earthbound Józef Wittlin Novelist, poet, translator Salt of the Earth Marcel Wolfers Sculptor, medallist Monument aux morts de la guerre, Louvain Wilfrid Wood Engraver, watercolourist By Underground to Kew James Woodford Sculptor Robin hood statue outside Nottingham Castle Ellamarie Woolley Enamel artist, muralist Women with Birds Marjorie Muir Worthington Writer Arthur Wragg Illustrator Illustrations for The Psalms for Modern Life Arthur F. Wright Historian The Sui Dynasty Horace Kenton Wright Artist Margaret Wrightson Sculptor Works Wu Chuo-liu Author Orphan of Asia Satyu Yamaguti Parasitologist Synopsis of digenetic trematodes of vertebrates Akio Yashiro Composer Piano Concerto (Yashiro) Yashpal Writer Jhutha Sach Yirawala Artist Mihal Zallari Historian, journalist, poet Joaquín Zamacois Composer, author Zheng Lücheng Composer Music for the Military Anthem of the People's Liberation Army Zhou Enlai Politician Zhu De Politician Anna Zinkeisen Artist Portrait of Archibald McIndoe Khayr al-Dīn al-Ziriklī Poet, biographer al-Aʻlām Adolph Zukor Filmmaker Jacek Żuławski Sculptor Alberto Zum Felde Historian, essayist
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.