Copyright Guide for Faculty

January 1st is Public Domain Day

Public Domain Day celebrates creative works that enter the public domain in the new year. This year, creative works from 1930 have entered the public domain. These works are free to use in any capacity without paying royalties or requesting permission.

Note that because copyright laws are different in every country, not all works enter the public domain at the same time around the world.

• Early versions of the character of Betty Boop
• The 1930 film, All Quiet on the Western Front (The first English translation of the novel entered the public domain last year!)
• Watty Piper's The Little Engine That Could
• The first four Nancy Drew novels, and the ninth Hardy Boys novel
• Agatha Christie's The Murder at the Vicarage (the first appearance of Miss Marple)
• The 1930 installments of the Tintin comic strip
• William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying

The public domain refers to works that are free from copyright protection. Anyone may use these works without asking for permission or paying royalties.

In Canada, works enter the public domain 70 years after the creator's death (on January 1st of the following year). This is called the "life +70" rule.

Works can be in the public domain for many reasons:

• Because the term of copyright protection has ended;
• Because the work was not eligible for copyright protection in the first place; or
• Because the copyright owner has waived their rights and allowed the work to enter the public domain.

In some cases, a work may enter the public domain but a specific edition or image of the work may still be under copyright.