{"id":1782,"date":"2021-01-04T14:45:05","date_gmt":"2021-01-04T18:45:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.lib.uconn.edu\/news\/?p=1782"},"modified":"2021-01-05T09:23:17","modified_gmt":"2021-01-05T13:23:17","slug":"public-domain-day-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.lib.uconn.edu\/news\/public-domain-day-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"Public Domain Day 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Post written by Michael Rodriguez<\/a>, Collections Strategist and Rebecca Parmer<\/a>, Head of Archives & Special Collections <\/p>\n\n\n\n

New Year\u2019s Day was Public Domain Day! <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Public<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

On January 1, 2021, copyright expired for all works published in the United States in 1925. These works entered the public domain. Anyone is now free to share, use, and build on them in the US without permission or payment. Public Domain Day celebrates this trove of books, serials, music, and art that become public property on January 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each January 1st, a new year\u2019s worth of publications will enter the public domain. In 2022, copyright will expire for works published in 1926, and so on. Non-US works may enter the public domain later; this varies by creation date and country of origin. Sheet music from 1925 is entering the public domain this year, but sound recordings do not start entering the public domain till December 1, per the Music Modernization Act<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some 1925 works were already in the public domain before January 1. This is because the copyright was not registered or renewed in time, under the US laws of the era. Works published after January 1, 1964 had their copyright automatically renewed by statute. But for works published between 1923 and 1964, works automatically entered the public domain if the copyright holder didn\u2019t include a copyright statement at the time of publication or renew their copyright after 28 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, searching for the status of these works can be tricky. While copyright records from 1978 to today can be searched online<\/a>, registrations and renewals for all works prior to 1978 can only be searched onsite in the US Copyright Office’s copyright card catalog. To help the public navigate the status of books published between 1923 and 1963, Stanford University Libraries developed a database<\/a> of copyright renewals – but note that this only includes renewals for books, and not other copyrighted material like art, sound recordings, film, and so on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some Notable Books Entering the Public Domain<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Book<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The BBC hailed 1925 as perhaps \u201cthe greatest year for books ever<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1925, Ernest Hemingway published his first novel, F. Scott Fitzgerald penned The Great Gatsby<\/em>, and Virginia Woolf wrote Mrs. Dalloway<\/em>. Alain Locke published The New Negro<\/em>, a defining work of the Harlem Renaissance that featured essays from Black luminaries such as W.E.B. Du Bois, Langston Hughes, and Zora Neale Hurston.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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