#between this and naming two of the characters in Death on the Nile Doyle

[radarsteddybear]

Me: wouldn't it be funny if Hastings read some Sherlock Holmes and tried to apply some of Holmes' methods to Poirot's cases?

The Murder on the Links:

[shauncartoons]

Works Entering the Public Domain in 2020

    At the stroke of midnight hundreds if not thousands of books, songs, paintings, etc. first published in 1924 will be entering the public domain in the United States, the second year in a row this has happened after a twenty year extension that went into effect near the end of 1998, and as the year comes to a close let us take a look at some of the highlights of works I find of interest that will soon be available to all, including the first film adaptation of Peter Pan and the first appearance of the character who would later become known as Winnie the Pooh. I should note that for the purposes of this article that I will be focusing mainly on United States copyright law as laws differ from country to country and some of the works below will still be copyrighted in some countries, along with a few that will only be entering the public domain in the United States for reasons that will be explained.

How long copyright lasts

    Before diving into the meat of the article, it will be helpful to explain the basics of how long copyrights last and what the public domain is. All creative works are protected for a certain amount of time after fixation and/or publication and after the copyright for a work expires, it enters the public domain where all can use it however they please in most cases. How long that copyright lasts depends on the laws on the country and in some cases the type of work. In the United States, copyrights on all works published before 1978 last for a period of 95 years with a few exceptions. The main exception are sound recordings as, due to a wide range of state and federal legal complications going back decades, none will enter the public domain prior to the start of 2022 when all recordings released before 1923 will become public domain. The other main exception to the 95 year rule is if a work was first published before 1978 and did not have a copyright notice, which released a work into the public domain immediately, or was released before 1964 and its copyright was not renewed after 28 years. These rules only apply to works that were first published in the United States and does not apply to most foreign works as, due to a number of reasons that will not be covered here, many works originating from outside of the U.S. that expired for such reasons had their copyrights restored in the mid-1990s as most countries do not have formality requirements, and even the ones who did largely abandoned them long ago.

    In most countries outside of the United States and all works published after 1977 in the U.S , copyrights last for a certain amount of time after the author’s death, usually 50 or 70 years though others have terms that are either longer or shorter. Only a handful of countries have terms outside of that range with a few going as low as around 20 years after the author dies, a few go up to 75 and 80 years, and Jamaica and Mexico have the longest terms with 95 and 100 years after the author’s death respectively. Some, like India, go between the two with a term of 60 years after the author’s death. Sound recordings and corporate works usually have fixed terms, but they not always. Things get even more complicated for movies as while many countries give them a fixed copyright length, others do not and determining the author of a film can be complicated. For the purposes of this article when determining a film’s copyright status outside of the U.S. I will use the laws for movies used in countries such as the United Kingdom and Germany which determines the copyright length based on the last survivor of the main director, screenwriter, and composer.

    In many countries, a copyright set to expire in a given year expires on January 1 of the following one. This is why all works from 1924 are entering the public domain at the start of 2020 in the U.S. instead of entering it at various points throughout 2019.

Works entering the public domain outside of the U.S.

    While I will be focusing on the United States public domain in this article, I will also try to determine the status of a work in other countries if possible and start off by mentioning a few authors whose works are entering the public domain in countries with life+70 and life+50 terms, with some notable works being listed in parenthesis.

    In life+70 countries, all works from authors who died in 1949 will be entering the public domain. Some examples include works by composer Richard Strauss (Don Juan, Also sprach Zarathustra), Margaret Mitchell (Gone With the Wind), and Richard Connell (The Most Dangerous Game). The original 1922 version of Nosferatu, considered to be one of the earliest vampire films and the first (though unauthorized) adaptation of Dracula, is also entering the public domain in many countries including its native Germany as screenwriter Henrik Galeen died in 1949. In life+50 countries works from authors who died in 1969 will enter the public domain including songwriters such as Frank Loesser (Baby, It's Cold Outside).

Works entering the public domain in the U.S.

    This is a list of selected works from 1924 broken down into categories:

Music:

·         Tzigane by Maurice Ravel

o   Ravel died in 1937, so this composition is public domain in most of the world.

·         Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin

o   Gershwin died in 1937, so this composition is public domain in most of the world.

·         It Had To Be You by Gus Kahn (lyrics) and Isham Jones (music)

o   Gus Kahn died in 1941, so the lyrics are public domain in life+70 countries. Isham Jones died in 1956, so the music is public domain in life+60 countries.

·         All Alone, The Call of the South, Lazy, and What’ll I Do by Irving Berlin

o   Irving Berlin died in 1989, so these songs are still copyrighted in most of the world.

Movies:

·         He Who Gets Slapped, starring Lon Channey and directed by Victor Sjöström

o   Screenwriter Carey Wilson died in 1962, so the film is public domain in countries where the term is life+50.

o   The movie is based on a play by Leonid Andreyev that was published in 1914. Since he died in 1919, the play is public domain worldwide and has been for some time.

·         Peter Pan, starring Betty Bronson and directed by Herbert Brenon.

o   Screenwriter Willis Goldbeck died in 1979, so this film is still copyrighted in most of the world.

o   This movie is based on James M. Barrie’s play (which would be published in its final form in 1928) and had his direct involvement. Since he died in 1937, the play is public domain in most countries besides the U.S. (though the 1911 novel version entered the public domain long ago) and a limited exception in the United Kingdom regarding royalties.

Novels and Short Stories:

·         A few works by Agatha Christie including the novel The Man in the Brown Suit along with several short stories featuring characters such as Hercule Poirot and Tommy and Tumpance.

o   Agatha Christie died in 1976, so these works are still copyrighted in most of the world.

o   The Man in the Brown Suit Introduced the character Colonel Race, who would go on to appear in later Christie works such as Death on the Nile.

��         The Illustrious Client, The Sussex Vampire, and The Three Garridebs by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

o   Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Doyle died in 1930, so these stories are public domain in most countries.

o   These are among the last of the original Sherlock Holmes stories. Not including the above stories, only six of the original 56 stories are copyrighted in the U.S.

·         The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell

o   As mentioned earlier, this work is also entering the public domain in life+70 countries as Richard Connell died in 1949.

o   The 1932 film version is also public domain in the U.S. as its copyright was never renewed.

·         When We Were Very Young by A.A. Milne

o   Since A.A. Milne died in 1956, this book is public domain in life+60 countries.

o   This is a collection of poems. One of them, “Teddy Bear” was the first appearance of a character named Edward Bear who would be given the name Winne the Pooh in 1925. Under that name, he would go on to be featured in many stories published between 1926 and 1928.

·         Grampa in Oz by Ruth Plumly Thompson

o   Since Ruth Plumly Thompson died in 1976, this book is still copyrighted in most countries.

o   This is the eighteenth Oz book and the fourth written by Thompson, who continued the series following L. Frank Baum’s death in 1919. All of the Oz books in the “famous forty” published after this are still copyrighted with the exception of seven that were not renewed.

·         The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann

o   Since Thomas Mann died in 1956, this book is public domain in life+60 countries.

o   The first English translation of one of Mann’s earlier works, Buddenbrooks¸ is also entering the public domain.

·         The Dream by H.G. Wells

o   Since H.G. Wells died in 1946, this book is public domain in life+70 countries.

Comics and Cartoons:

·         Roughly 20 Felix the Cat shorts, though some were already in the public domain as they were not renewed.

·         Ten of the Disney Alice Comedies.

·         Little Orphan Annie by Harold Gray debuted in 1924 as a Sunday and daily strip.

o   Since Harold Gray died in 1968, these comics are public domain in life+50 countries.

Works not included above and why:

    If you looked at the works listed above some of you might notice a few notable works first released in 1924 that I did not mention and there is a reason for that. In the film section some might have noticed that the original version of The Thief of Baghdad staring Douglas Fairbanks and directed by Raoul Walsh was not listed. Similarly, the original version of Gertrude Chandler Warner’s The Boxcar Children is missing from the book section. The reason I omitted these is because they were already in the public domain since neither of them had their copyright renewed. However, this only applies in the U.S. as both works are still copyrighted outside of the U.S. since Raoul Walsh died in 1980 and Gertrude Chandler Warner in 1979. One should also exercise caution with The Boxcar Children as the similar though heavily revised version published in 1942 did have its copyright renewed along with its sequels. The same is also true of the 1940 remake of The Thief of Baghdad.

In the coming weeks and certainly over the course of the year, I will try to post some of the above works, mainly some of the poems, short stories, and arrangements of some of the musical works.