{"id":2001,"date":"2022-01-10T11:28:30","date_gmt":"2022-01-10T15:28:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.lib.uconn.edu\/news\/?p=2001"},"modified":"2022-01-10T11:36:23","modified_gmt":"2022-01-10T15:36:23","slug":"public-domain-day-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.lib.uconn.edu\/news\/public-domain-day-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"Public Domain Day 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On January 1, 2022, copyright expired for all works published in the United States in 1926. 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

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Each January 1st, a new year\u2019s worth of publications will enter the public domain. In 2023, copyright will expire for works published in 1927, and so on. Non-US works may enter the public domain later; this varies by creation date and country of origin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Christopher Robin bringing Winnie-the-Pooh downstairs<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Some 1926 works were already in the public domain before January 1. This is because the copyright was not registered or renewed in time, under US laws of the era. Works published after January 1, 1964 had their copyright automatically renewed by statute. However, to protect works published between 1923 and 1964, creators had to include a copyright statement at the time of publication and renew copyright after 28 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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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

In 1926, Ernest Hemingway published The Sun Also Rises<\/em>, fictional detective Hercule Poirot solved one of his trickiest mysteries in Agatha Christie\u2019s The Murder of Roger Ackroyd<\/em>, and Winnie-the-Pooh entered the imagination of millions of children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n