So here’s some cool news to start the new year:
On January 1, for the first time in 20 years, new works entered the public domain here in
the United States.
And by “new works” I mean “old works,” as in “old works that weren’t in the public
domain before.”
Probably could have found a clearer phrasing for that.
Know the worst part about it?
I scripted it this way!
Here’s the deal: The Copyright Act of 1976 determined that all creative works first published
in the United States before January 1, 1978 would enter the public domain 75 years after
their original publication.
Creative works published after January 1, 1978 would retain their copyright protections
for the lifetime of the author, plus fifty years.
These rules remained unchanged until 1998, when Congress passed a revision to the Copyright
Act that extended the protection term by twenty years.
One of the major lobbyists in favor of extending the term of copyright protection was The Walt
Disney Corporation, which was starting to get nervous about “Steamboat Willie,”
the first official appearance of Mickey Mouse, lapsing into the public domain, which prior
to the revisions was due to occur in 2004.
Under the revised provisions, works retain their copyright protections for the life of
the author plus seventy years, except for works made for hire which are owned not by
their actual author but by the company who paid the author to create them; copyright
protections on works for hire last for 120 years after the creation of the work or 95
years after the original publication of the work, whichever comes first.
Thanks to the revisions of the copyright law, Disney gets to hang on to the copyright for
“Steamboat Willie” until 2024 – which is practically right around the corner now!
The extension of the protection term also meant that works with copyrights that had
been due to expire in 1999 wouldn’t enter the public domain until twenty years later.
For twenty years no works created before 1978 have entered the public domain in the United
States, except those which were intentionally placed there by creators who voluntarily gave
up their copyright protections.
But now the public domain freeze is over!
This year, and every year from now on, new works – er, new old works, you know what
I’m saying – will automatically enter the public domain as their copyright protections
lapse.
What are some of these works?
Take your pick.
All works published in the United States in 1923 are now in the public domain.
In 1923 Agatha Christie published The Murder on the Links, the second appearance of Hercule
Poirot.
Joseph Conrad published The Rover, his final finished novel.
Kahlil Gibran published The Prophet.
Virginia Woolf published her short story “Mrs. Dalloway in Bond Street,” which she would
later rewrite and expand into the novel Mrs. Dalloway.
E.E. Cummings published his first collection of poetry, Tulips and Chimneys.
And Robert Frost published New Hampshire, the Pulitizer Prize-winning poetry collection
that includes “Nothing Gold Can Stay” and “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.”
Jumping from literature to cinema, 1923 was the year Cecil B. DeMille released his original
version of The Ten Commandments.
It was the year of The Hunchback of Notre Dame starring Lon Chaney.
Fifteen Felix the Cat animated shorts were released, including “Felix in Hollywood,”
which features Felix meeting cartoon versions of movie stars like Charlie Chaplin and Ben
Turpin.
And speaking of Charlie Chaplin, 1923 saw the release of important works by Chaplin,
Harold Lloyd, and my personal favorite, Buster Keaton.
Chaplin released The Pilgrim, and A Woman of Paris, a drama which he directed but chose
not to star in, though he does put in an inconspiciuous cameo as a porter.
Lloyd released Why Worry? and arguably his greatest film, Safety Last.
And Keaton released two shorts: “The Balloonatic” and “The Love Nest,” and two features:
Three Ages, and Our Hospitality.
Nineteen-twenty-three was also a big year for music, as it saw the first releases of
the songs “Who’s Sorry Now?”, “That Old Gang of Mine,” and a little blues number
of which I’ve always been particularly fond, “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and
Out”.
It was also the year of “The Charleston.”
What does all this mean, practically speaking?
It means that all works first published in the United States in 1923 are now the property
not of their former copyright holders, but of the public.
They belong to all of us, which means they can not only be republished without permission,
they can also be altered and adapted.
You wanna record your own version of “The Charleston”?
Go for it.
You wanna produce The Murder on the Links for the stage?
Godspeed, Little Dramatist!
You wanna make an exhaustive six-part YouTube series analyzing DeMille’s original Ten
Commandments wherein you quote liberally from the film in ways that go far beyond the accepted
boundaries of Fair Use?
Why aren’t you doing it right now?!
Life is short!
Go make your Ten Commandments marathon super-documentary while there’s still breath in your lungs
and a beating heart in your chest!
There’s nothing to stop you!
Quote!
Adapt!
Remix!
Remake!
The floodgates of the Public Domain have once again been opened and the cultural deluge
will sweep us all away!
Isn’t it wonderful?
Isn’t it glorious?!
Oh, rapture!
Oh, bliss!
Oh, sweet millennium!
In you shall I dwell for all the rest of my years!
Hosanna!
Also: The Covered Wagon.
Hollywood’s first true epic western, about a group of pioneers who set out for Oregon
in 1848.
Top grossing film of 1923.
Check it out.
If you’re interested.
It’s neat.