2024 in public domain

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.

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 For previously unpublished material, those who publish it first will have the publication rights for 25 years.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 Bangladesh, India and Venezuela, a work enters the public domain 60 years after the creator's death.

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.

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.

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).^[1]

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.^[2][3] 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.^[4]

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works published in 1928, entered the public domain in 2024.^[5][6] Sound recordings that were published in 1923^[5] and unpublished works whose authors died in 1953 also entered the public domain.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.^[7] 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.^[8] 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.^[9]

On May 28th 2024, American ballet choreographer Eliot Feld announced he will donate all his 149 ballets to the public domain.^[10]

On March 13 2024, The J. Paul Getty Museum announced that it will release 88 thousand images into the public domain.^[11]

• List of American films of 1928
• 1953 in literature and 1973 in literature for deaths of writers
• Public Domain Day
• Creative Commons

• "Authors by Year of Death – 1953". AuthorAndBookInfo.com.
• Popular Books of 1928 at Goodreads
• Public Domain Day 2024 at the Center for the Study of the Public Domain, Duke University School of Law