Every year, the world celebrates the first of January as Public Domain Day, marking the release of copyrighted works into the public domain.

In 2024, we saw popular intellectual properties enter the public domain, including the film Steamboat Willie by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks which debuted the characters Mickey Mouse® and Minnie Mouse®, plus the children’s book The House of Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne, continuing the stories of Winnie-the-Pooh® and his friends.  

With the start of this new year, a treasure trove of literature, films, musical compositions, and sound recordings became available for public use, like the original iterations of Popeye® The Sailor and Tintin®, along with classic works by William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway.

What Is The Public Domain?

A copyright protects an original work for a limited amount of time. Generally, the term lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years. For works created by corporations or under pseudonyms, the term is 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation, whichever expires first. Sound recordings follow a slightly different timeline. Under the Music Modernization Act of 2018, recordings made between 1923 and 1946 will be protected for 100 years after publication.

The public domain comprises of creative works no longer protected by copyright, meaning the work can legally be shared and adapted without permission or payment to the original creator. This includes works whose copyright has expired, those voluntarily placed in the public domain by their creators or works that never qualified for copyright protection.

On January 1, 2025, works published in 1929 and published musical compositions and sound recordings from 1924 entered the public domain.

According to the Center for the Study of the Public Domain, the public domain enables “both access to and preservation of creative materials that might otherwise be lost to history.” Moreover, artists and creators often draw inspiration from public domain works, reinterpreting or remixing them into new creations.

Notable Works Entering The Public Domain in 2025

Here is a short list of works entering the public domain this year:

Literature

  • The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner 
  • A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway 
  • A Room of One’s Own, Virginia Woolf 
  • All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, the first English translation by Arthur Wesley Wheen
  • Seven Dials Mystery, Agatha Christie

Films

  • The Cocoanuts, directed by Robert Florey and Joseph Santley, the first film starring the Marx Brothers
  • The Broadway Melody, directed by Harry Beaumont, the first musical released by MGM, Hollywood’s first all-talking musical and winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture.
  • The Hollywood Revue of 1929, directed by Charles Reisner, featuring the song “Singin’ in the Rain”
  • The Skeleton Dance, directed by Walt Disney and animated by Ub Iwerks, the first Silly Symphony short from Disney
  • Blackmail, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, the first sound film by Hitchcock

Musical Compositions

  • Singin’ in the Rain, lyrics by Arthur Freed and music by Nacio Herb Brown
  • Happy Days Are Here Again, lyrics by Jack Yellen and music by Milton Ager
  • What Is This Thing Called Love?, lyrics and music by Cole Porter
  • Can’t We Be Friends?, lyrics by Paul James and music by Kay Swift
  • Without a Song, lyrics by Billy Rose & Edward Eliscu and music by Vincent Youmans

Characters

  • Popeye The Sailor (in “Gobs of Work” from the Thimble Theatre comic strip) by E. C. Segar
  • Tintin (in “Les Aventures de Tintin” from the magazine Le Petit Vingtième) by Hergé (Georges Remi)

Conclusion

It is important to note that even if a work is in the public domain, certain elements could still be subject to other intellectual property protections, such as trademark rights. A work’s copyright expiration does not terminate trademark rights the owner may own in the same work. Trademark protection can be retained in perpetuity so long as the mark continues to be in use and does not become generic.

Overall, Public Domain Day heralds a fresh wave of opportunities for creativity, scholarship, and cultural engagement.