2025 in public ___domain

When a work's copyright expires, it enters the public ___domain. Since laws vary globally, the copyright status of works is not uniform. The following lists list creators whose works entered the public ___domain in 2025 under the most common copyright regimes.

The art of Henri Matisse (left) and Frida Kahlo (right) entered the public ___domain in Europe in 2025; however, at this time, Kahlo's works remained copyrighted in her native Mexico.

Countries with life + 80 years

See also: Works that entered the public ___domain in countries with life + 70 years in 2015

Spain has a copyright term of life + 80 years for creators that died before 1987. In Colombia and Equatorial Guinea, a work enters the public ___domain 80 years after the creator's death.

Names	Country	Birth	Death	Occupation	Notable work
Joaquín Álvarez Quintero	Spain	20 January 1873	14 June 1944	Playwright
Miguel Asín Palacios	Spain	5 July 1871	12 August 1944	Scholar	El Islam cristianizado
Manuel Chaves Nogales	Spain	7 August 1879	8 May 1944	Writer, journalist	Juan Belmonte, matador de toros; su vida y sus hazañas
Enrique Díez Canedo	Spain	7 January 1879	6 June 1944	Poet
Francisco Gómez-Jordana Sousa	Spain	1 February 1876	3 August 1944	Politician	Milicia y Diplomacia: Diarios Del Conde de Jordana, 1936–1944
Elías Mauricio Soto Uribe	Colombia	22 September 1858	11 October 1944	Instrumentalist
Antonio Videgain	Spain	10 March 1869	9 February 1944	Composer

Countries with life + 70 years

See also: Works that entered the public ___domain in countries with life + 50 years in 2005

With the exception of Belarus (Life + 50 years) and Spain (which has a copyright term of Life + 80 years for creators that died before 1987), a work enters the public ___domain in Europe 70 years after the creator's death, if it was published during the creator's lifetime.

Names	Country	Birth	Death	Occupation	Notable work
Alexander Abasheli	Soviet Union	27 August 1884	27 September 1954	Writer	A Woman in the Mirror [ka]
Sait Faik Abasıyanık	Turkey	18 November 1906	11 May 1954	Writer	Semaver
Ahmed Agdamski	Soviet Union	5 January 1884	1 April 1954	Singer	If Not That One, Then This One
Franco Alfano	Italy	8 March 1875	27 October 1954	Composer	List of operas by Franco Alfano
Juan Álvarez	Argentina	3 September 1878	8 April 1954	Historian	Essay on the history of Santa Fe
Maximiano Alves	Portugal	22 August 1888	22 January 1954	Sculptor	Selected works
Ahmad Amin	Egypt	1 October 1886	30 May 1954	Writer	Dawn of Islam
Martin Andersen Nexø	Denmark	26 June 1869	1 June 1954	Writer	Pelle the Conqueror
Oswald de Andrade	Brazil	11 January 1890	22 October 1954	Writer	Manifesto Antropófago
Bruno Angoletta	Italy	7 September 1889	7 January 1954	Cartoonist	Marmittone
Peter van Anrooy	Netherlands	13 October 1879	31 December 1954	Composer	Piet Hein Rhapsodie voor symfonieorkest
John L. Balderston	United States	22 October 1889	8 March 1954	Playwright	Berkeley Square, Dracula
Lionel Barrymore	United States	28 April 1878	15 November 1954	Actor, film director	Lionel Barrymore on stage, screen and radio
Constantin Beldie	Romania	8 September 1887	11 June 1954	Journalist, writer	Gloss on the Bookish Spirit
Jacinto Benavente	Spain	12 August 1866	14 July 1954	Writer	The Unloved Woman
Frans G. Bengtsson	Sweden	4 October 1894	19 December 1954	Writer	The Long Ships
Maxwell Bodenheim	United States	26 May 1892	6 February 1954	novelist, poet, memoirist, journalist.	My Life and Loves in Greenwich Village
Hakon Børresen	Denmark	2 June 1876	6 October 1954	Composer	Den Kongelige Gæst
Vitaliano Brancati	Italy	24 July 1907	25 September 1954	Writer	Don Giovanni in Sicilia
Roman Bratkowski [uk]	Ukraine/  Poland	2 September 1869	5 September 1954	Painter	Pejzaż zimowy
Walter Braunfels	Germany	19 December 1882	19 March 1954	Composer	Die Vögel
Pauline Brunius	Sweden	2 October 1881	30 March 1954	Actress, film director	False Greta
Claude Cahun	France	25 October 1894	8 December 1954	Photographer, writer	Disavowals or Cancelled Confessions
Robert Capa	Hungary	22 October 1913	25 May 1954	Photographer	The Falling Soldier
Enrico Cavacchioli [it]	Italy	15 March 1885	4 January 1954	Writer	List of works by Enrico Cavacchioli [it]
Papa Celestin	United States	1 January 1884	15 December 1954	Musician	Papa Celestin's Golden Wedding
E. K. Chambers	United Kingdom	16 March 1866	21 January 1954	Literary scholar	The Elizabethan Stage
Dmytro Chornovil [uk]	Soviet Union	7 November 1902	8 March 1954	Architect	State Academic Music Drama Theatre in Vinnytsia [uk]
Eugen Coca	Soviet Union	15 April 1893	9 January 1954	Composer	Maria's Fortune
Colette	France	28 January 1873	3 August 1954	Writer	Gigi
Julian Coolidge	United States	28 September 1873	5 March 1954	Mathematician	A Treatise on the Circle and the Sphere
Duff Cooper	United Kingdom	22 February 1890	1 January 1954	Politician, historian	Old Men Forget
Maria Adelaide Coelho da Cunha	Portugal	13 October 1869	23 November 1954	Socialite	Doida, Não!
Stig Dagerman	Sweden	5 October 1923	4 November 1954	Writer, journalist	A Burnt Child
Jibanananda Das	India	17 February 1899	22 October 1954	Poet	Banalata Sen
Ludovic Dauș	Romania	1 October 1873	17 November 1954	Writer, translator	Unto Death
Russell Davenport	United States	1899	19 April 1954	Writer	My Country, A Poem of America
Alcide De Gasperi	Italy	3 April 1881	19 August 1954	Politician	Nella lotta per la democrazia
Danylo Demutskyi [uk]	Soviet Union	16 July 1893	7 May 1954	Photographer, camera operator	Earth
André Derain	France	10 June 1880	8 September 1954	Painter, sculptor	Mountains at Collioure
Leonard Eugene Dickson	United States	22 January 1874	17 January 1954	Mathematician, writer	History of the Theory of Numbers
Nadiya Dobrovolska-Zavadska	Russian Empire/  France	25 September 1878	31 October 1954	Geneticist	Sur la mortification spontanée de la queue chez la souris nouveau-née et sur l'existence d'un caractère (facteur) héréditaire "non-viable"
Antoni Bolesław Dobrowolski	Poland	6 June 1872	27 April 1954	Geophysicist	Historia naturalna lodu
Oles Donchenko [uk]	Soviet Union	19 August 1902	12 April 1954	Writer	Star Fortress
Alfred Martin Duggan-Cronin	Ireland/  South Africa	17 May 1874	25 August 1954	Photographer
Carl Eldh	Sweden	10 May 1873	26 January 1954	Sculptor	The Branting Monument
Enrico Fermi	Italy/  USA	29 September 1901	28 November 1954	Physicist	Publications
Arthur Fickenscher	United States	9 March 1885	15 April 1954	Composer and academic	Willowwood
Bud Fisher	United States	3 April 1885	7 September 1954	Cartoonist	Mutt and Jeff
Constantin Font [fr]	France	11 January 1890	25 January 1954	Painter
Miles Franklin	Australia	14 October 1879	19 September 1954	Writer	My Brilliant Career
Wilhelm Furtwängler	Germany	25 January 1886	30 November 1954	Conductor, composer	Symphony No. 2
Jacques Gachot	Germany/  France	11 January 1885	15 December 1954	Painter	Paintings by Jacques Gachot
Nina Genke-Meller	Soviet Union	19 March 1893	25 August 1954	Painter	Suprematist Composition
E. Ray Goetz	United States	12 June 1886	12 June 1954	Composer, lyricist	"For Me and My Gal"
Lil Green	United States	22 December 1901	14 April 1954	Singer, songwriter	"Why Don't You Do Right?", "Romance in the Dark"
W. J. Gruffydd	United Kingdom	14 February 1881	29 September 1954	Writer, scholar	Lyrics
Heinz Guderian	Germany	17 June 1888	14 May 1954	Military officer, writer	Achtung – Panzer!, Panzer Leader
Niqula Haddad	Lebanon	1878	1954	Writer
Thea von Harbou	Germany	27 December 1888	1 July 1954	Writer, film director	List of works by Thea von Harbou
Jack Harvey	United States	16 September 1881	9 November 1954	Film director	A Dog's Love
Ferenc Herczeg	Hungary	22 September 1863	24 February 1954	Writer	A Gyurkovics-lányok
James Hilton	United Kingdom	9 September 1900	20 December 1954	Writer	Goodbye, Mr. Chips, Lost Horizon
Ludwik Hirszfeld	Poland	5 August 1884	7 March 1954	Microbiologist	Über Vererbung gruppenspezifischer Strukturen des Blutes
Earnest Hooton	United States	20 November 1887	3 May 1954	Anthropologist, cartoonist	Up From The Ape
Ostap Hrytsai [uk]	Ukraine/  Germany	2 November 1881	7 May 1954	Writer, translator	The Escape of Oleksa Perkhun
Raymond Hubbell	United States	1 June 1879	13 December 1954	Composer, lyricist	"Poor Butterfly"
Ivan Ilyin	Russian Empire/   Switzerland	9 April 1883	21 December 1954	Philosopher	Resistance to Evil By Force [ru]
Charles Ives	United States	20 October 1874	19 May 1954	Composer	List of compositions by Charles Ives
Ayaz İshaki	Russian Empire/  Turkey	22 February 1878	22 July 1954	Writer	Mullah's Wife [tt]
Norbert Jacques	Germany	6 June 1880	15 May 1954	Writer	Dr. Mabuse
Hans Janowitz	Germany	2 December 1890	25 May 1954	Screenwriter	The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
Arthur Johnston	United States	10 January 1898	1 May 1954	Composer	"Cocktails for Two", "Pennies from Heaven"
Frida Kahlo	Mexico	6 July 1907	13 July 1954	Painter	List of paintings by Frida Kahlo
Mikhas Klimkovich	Belarus	20 November 1899	5 November 1954	Poet	"My Belarusy"
Vincas Krėvė-Mickevičius	Lithuania	19 October 1882	17 July 1954	Writer, politician	Skirgaila
Kalki Krishnamurthy	India	9 September 1899	5 December 1954	Writer	Ponniyin Selvan
Zygmunt Kurczyński [pl]	Poland	2 April 1886	11 March 1954	Sculptor	Grave of Tadeusz Rutowski
Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels	Austria	17 September 1874	20 April 1954	Political theorist	Ostara
Henri Laurens	France	18 February 1885	5 May 1954	Sculptor	L'Amphion
Alphonse Laverrière	Switzerland	16 May 1872	11 March 1954	Architect	Bois-de-Vaux Cemetery
Édouard Le Roy	France	18 June 1870	10 November 1954	Philosopher, mathematician	Les Origines humaines et l'évolution de l'intelligence
Alain LeRoy Locke	United States	13 September 1885	9 June 1954	Writer	The New Negro
Pyotr Leshchenko	Russian Empire/  Romania	14 June 1898	16 July 1954	Singer	Heart
Achille Longo	Italy	28 March 1900	28 May 1954	Composer	Compositions
Gino Loria	Italy	19 May 1862	30 January 1954	Mathematician	Books
Auguste Lumière	France	19 October 1862	10 April 1954	Film director	Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory
Wincenty Lutosławski	Poland	6 June 1863	28 December 1954	Philosopher	The Polish Nation
Jan Maklakiewicz	Poland	24 November 1899	8 February 1954	Composer	Cagliostro in Warsaw
Ivan Malozyomov [uk]	Soviet Union	8 October 1899	19 November 1954	Architect	Interiors of Derzhprom
William March	United States	18 September 1893	15 May 1954	Writer	Company K
Santiago Martínez Delgado	Colombia	1906	1954	Painter, sculptor, art historian	Mural at the Colombian Capitol
Henri Matisse	France	31 December 1869	3 November 1954	Painter, sculptor	List of works by Henri Matisse
Joe May	United States	7 November 1880	29 April 1954	Film director	Stuart Webbs
George McManus	United States	23 January 1884	22 October 1954	Cartoonist	Bringing Up Father
Emilis Melngailis	Latvia/  Soviet Union	15 February 1874	10 December 1954	Composer	Maija (Turaidas roze)
Mihri Müşfik Hanım	Turkey	26 February 1886	1954	Painter
Zofia Nałkowska	Poland	10 November 1884	17 December 1954	Writer	Medallions
Herms Niel	Germany	17 April 1888	16 July 1954	Composer	"Erika"
Aleksandr Orlov	Soviet Union	6 April 1880	28 January 1954	Astronomer	Selected works in 3 volumes
Yukio Ozaki	Japan	24 December 1858	6 October 1954	Politician	The Autobiography of Ozaki Yukio: The Struggle for Constitutional Government in Japan
Auguste Perret	France	12 February 1874	25 February 1954	Architect	Théâtre des Champs-Élysées
Washington Phillips	United States	11 January 1880	20 September 1954	Singer	List of songs recorded by Washington Phillips
Dimitrie Pompeiu	Romania	4 October 1873	8 October 1954	Mathematician	Sur la continuité des fonctions de variables complexes
Fred Raymond	Austria	20 April 1900	10 January 1954	Composer	"I Lost My Heart in Heidelberg", Maske in Blau
Yuri Repin [fr]	Russian Empire/  Finland	10 April 1877	9 August 1954	Painter	Tyurenchen. Eternal life in a glorious death
Grantland Rice	United States	1 November 1880	13 July 1954	Sportswriter	Songs of the Stalwart
Fred Rose	United States	24 August 1898	1 December 1954	Songwriter	"Be Honest with Me"
Leon Schiller	Poland	14 March 1887	25 March 1954	Screenwriter	Pastorale (play) [pl]
Dmytro Sheludko [de]	Ukraine/  Bulgaria	21 September 1892	5 August 1954	Diplomat, literary scientist	Zur Geschichte des Natureinganges bei den Trobadors
C. Fox Smith	United Kingdom	1 February 1882	8 April 1954	Writer	All the Way Round: Sea Roads to Africa
Oscar Straus	Austria	6 March 1870	11 January 1954	Composer	Ein Walzertraum
Ionel Teodoreanu	Romania	6 January 1897	3 February 1954	Writer	La Medeleni
Lucien Tesnière	France	13 May 1893	6 December 1954	Linguist	Elements of Structural Syntax
Jan Tokarzewski-Karaszewicz	Ukraine/  United Kingdom	24 June 1885	18 November 1954	Diplomat, heraldist	Diariy Getmana Pylypa Orlika
Alan Turing	United Kingdom	23 June 1912	7 June 1954	Mathematician	Turing's proof
William Van Alen	United States	10 August 1883	24 May 1954	Architect	Chrysler Building
Getúlio Vargas	Brazil	19 April 1882	24 August 1954	Politician	Carta Testamento
Dziga Vertov	Soviet Union	2 January 1896	12 February 1954	Film director	Man with a Movie Camera
Adrien Voisard-Margerie [fr]	France	28 April 1867	20 July 1954	Painter	Taureaux à l'abreuvoir
Mykhailo Vozniak [de]	Soviet Union	3 October 1881	20 November 1954	Literary scholar	History of Ukrainian literature
Hermann Wolfgang von Waltershausen	Germany	12 October 1882	14 June 1954	Composer	Oberst Chabert
Clara Westhoff	Germany	21 September 1878	9 March 1954	Sculptor	Bust of Paula Modersohn-Becker
Eduard Wiiralt	Estonia	20 March 1898	8 January 1954	Graphic artist	Hell
Chester Wilmot	Australia	21 June 1911	10 January 1954	War Correspondent	The Struggle for Europe
Hella Wuolijoki	Finland	22 July 1886	2 February 1954	Writer	Entäs nyt, Niskavuori?
Yuriy Yanovskyi	Soviet Union	27 August 1902	25 February 1954	Writer	The Horseriders [uk]
Francis Brett Young	United Kingdom	29 June 1884	28 March 1954	Writer	List of novels of Francis Brett Young
Zhang Shichuan	China	1890	1954	Film director	Laborer's Love

Countries with life + 60 years

See also: 2025 in Indian public ___domain

In Bangladesh, Haiti, India, and Venezuela a work enters the public ___domain 60 years after the creator's death.

Names	Country	Birth	Death	Occupation	Notable work
Dr. Atl	Mexico	3 October 1875	15 August 1964	Painter, writer
Fernando Leal	Mexico	26 February 1896	7 October 1964	Painter, muralist, lithographer, engraver
Bharathidasan	India	29 April 1891	21 April 1964	Poet	"Tamil Thai Valthu"
Birinchi Kumar Barua	India	16 October 1908	30 March 1964	Scholar, writer
Carlos Brandt	Venezuela	11 October 1875	27 February 1964	Writer
Guru Dutt	India	9 July 1925	10 October 1964	Film director	Pyaasa
Ian Fleming	United Kingdom	28 May 1908	12 August 1964	Writer	James Bond
Mushtaq Hussain Khan	India	1878	13 August 1964	Musician
Jawaharlal Nehru	India	14 November 1889	27 May 1964	Politician	An Autobiography

Countries with life + 50 years

In most countries of Africa and Asia, as well as Belarus, Bolivia and New Zealand, a work enters the public ___domain 50 years after the creator's death.

Names	Country	Birth	Death	Occupation	Notable work
Jean Absil	Belgium	23 October 1893	2 February 1974	Composer
Gilbert Archey	New Zealand	4 August 1890	20 October 1974	Zoologist	The Moa, a Study of the Dinornithiformes
Miguel Ángel Asturias	Guatemala	19 October 1899	9 June 1974	Poet-diplomat	El Señor Presidente
Farid al-Atrash	Egypt	1917	26 December 1974	Composer
Kurt Atterberg	Sweden	12 December 1887	15 February 1974	Composer	Compositions
H. E. Bates	United Kingdom	16 May 1905	29 January 1974	Writer	The Darling Buds of May
Erick Berry	United States	4 January 1892	February 1974	Writer	The Winged Girl of Knossos
Bobby Bloom	United States	15 January 1946	28 February 1974	Singer-songwriter	"Montego Bay"
Hector Bolitho	New Zealand	28 May 1897	12 September 1974	Writer	Albert the Good and the Victorian Reign
Buddhadeb Bosu	Bangladesh	1908	1974	Writer
Jorge Camargo Spolidore	Colombia	June 1912	29 January 1974	Composer	"Chatica Linda"
Rosario Castellanos	Mexico	25 May 1925	7 August 1974	Poet, novelist	The Nine Guardians
Nellie Coad	New Zealand	15 October 1883	6 September 1974	Teacher, writer
Phillis Emily Cunnington	United Kingdom	1 November 1887	24 October 1974	Physician, historian	Handbook of English Mediaeval Costume
Maurice Duggan	New Zealand	25 November 1922	11 December 1974	Writer	Summer in the Gravel Pit
Duke Ellington	United States	29 April 1899	24 May 1974	Composer	Duke Ellington discography
Julius Evola	Italy	19 May 1898	11 June 1974	Philosopher	Revolt Against the Modern World
Allal al-Fassi	Morocco	10 January 1910	13 May 1974	Writer	The Independence Movements in Arab North Africa
Dorothy Fields	United States	15 July 1904	28 March 1974	Film lyricist	"The Way You Look Tonight"
Louise Fitzhugh	United States	5 October 1928	19 November 1974	Writer	Harriet the Spy
Georgette Heyer	United Kingdom	16 August 1902	4 July 1974	Writer	List of works by Georgette Heyer
Ali Ismael	Egypt	28 December 1922	16 June 1974	Composer	Fida'i
Marie Luise Kaschnitz	Germany	31 January 1901	10 October 1974	Writer	Menschen und Dinge 1945
Erich Kästner	Germany	23 February 1899	29 July 1974	Poet, screenwriter	Emil and the Detectives
Muhammad Ayub Khan	Pakistan	14 May 1907	19 April 1974	Politician	Books
Pär Lagerkvist	Sweden	23 May 1891	11 July 1974	Writer	Barabbas
Eve Langley	New Zealand	1 September 1904	1 June 1974	Writer	The Pea-Pickers
Charles Lindbergh	United States	4 February 1902	26 August 1974	Aviator, writer	"WE", The Spirit of St. Louis
Eric Linklater	United Kingdom	8 March 1899	7 November 1974	Writer, poet	The Wind on the Moon
Walter Lippmann	United States	23 September 1889	14 December 1974	Writer	Public Opinion
Margaret MacPherson	New Zealand	19 June 1895	14 September 1974	Writer, journalist	A Symposium Against War
P. Schuyler Miller	United States	21 February 1912	13 October 1974	Writer
Henry de Monfreid	France	14 November 1879	13 December 1974	Adventurer, writer	Secrets of the Red Sea
Stanley Mullen	United States	20 June 1911	1974	Artist, writer	Kinsmen of the Dragon
Leslie Munro	New Zealand	26 February 1901	13 February 1974	Politician, writer	United Nations: hope for a divided world
Douglas Robb	New Zealand	1899	1974	Physician, writer	Medical Odyssey
David Alfaro Siqueiros	Mexico	29 December 1896	6 January 1974	Painter, muralist	Portrait of the Bourgeoisie (1939–1940), The March of Humanity (1957–1971)
William Sloane	United States	15 August 1906	25 September 1974	Writer	To Walk the Night
Zaharia Stancu	Romania	7 October 1902	5 December 1974	Writer	Through the Ashes of the Empire
Sheila Stuart	United Kingdom	1892	1974	Writer	Alison's Highland Holiday
Jacqueline Susann	United States	20 August 1918	21 September 1974	Writer	Valley of the Dolls
Sándor Szathmári	Hungary	29 June 1897	16 July 1974	Writer, mechanical engineer	Kazohinia
Whanki Kim	South Korea	3 April 1913	25 July 1974	Painter	What Form, Shall We Meet Again? (어디서 무엇이 되어 다시 만나랴)
Robert Charles Zaehner	United Kingdom	8 April 1913	24 November 1974	Scholar	Zurvan, Mysticism, Our Savage God

Russia

See also: Copyright law of Russia

Russia has a copyright term of life + 70 years in general, with two special provisions:

• extra 4 years for those who fought in or worked during the so-called Great Patriotic War in 1941–1945, and/or
• copyright term starting from the date of rehabilitation for unlawfully prosecuted and posthumously rehabilitated.

1954 marks the first large wave of posthumous rehabilitations.

Names	Country	Birth	Death	Occupation	Notable work
Pavel Bazhov	Soviet Union	27 January 1879	3 December 1950	Writer	The Malachite Box
Yustin Djanelidze	Soviet Union	1 August 1883	14 January 1950	Doctor	A case of the repair of an injury of the ascending aorta
Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky	Soviet Union	11 February 1887	28 December 1950	Writer	The New Gulliver
Andrey Kryachkov	Soviet Union	24 November 1876	25 August 1950	Architect	100-Flat Building
Nikolai Luzin	Soviet Union	9 December 1883	28 February 1950	Mathematician	Lusin's theorem
Nikolai Myaskovsky	Soviet Union	20 April 1881	8 August 1950	Composer	List of compositions by Nikolai Myaskovsky
Antonina Nezhdanova	Soviet Union	16 June 1873	26 June 1950	Singer	Vocalise
Vladimir Sorin [de]	Soviet Union	1893	October 1944	Historian	Lenin in the Brest days
Viktor Vesnin	Soviet Union	9 April 1882	17 September 1950	Architect	Palace of Culture of the Proletarsky district, Moscow

Australia and Canada

See also: Copyright law of Australia and Copyright law of Canada

In 2004 copyright in Australia changed from a "plus 50" law to a "plus 70" law, in line with the United States and the European Union. But the change was not made retroactive (unlike the 1995 change in the European Union which brought some (British and possibly other) authors back into copyright, especially those who died from 1925 to 1944). Hence, the work of an author who died before 1955 is normally in the public ___domain in Australia; but the copyright of authors was extended to 70 years after death for those who died in 1955 or later, and no more Australian authors would come out of copyright until 1 January 2026 (those who died in 1955).^[1]

Similarly, Canada amended its Copyright Act in 2022 from a "plus 50" law to a "plus 70" law, coming into force on December 30, 2022, but does not revive expired copyright.^[2][3] No more new Canadian authors will come out of copyright until 1 January 2043 (those who died in 1972). Crown copyright was not changed, thus any government works published in 1974 entered the public ___domain in 2025.^[4]

United States

See also: Public ___domain in the United States

An overview of media that entered the public ___domain in the United States in 2025.

 

The original version of Tintin (seen here with his dog Snowy) was among the characters who entered the public ___domain in the United States in 2025.

Under the Copyright Term Extension Act, books and other works published in 1929 and films released in 1929 entered the public ___domain in 2025.^[5][6] Sound recordings that were published in 1924 and unpublished works whose authors died in 1954 also entered the public ___domain.^[5] The character Captain Easy,^[7] Popeye the Sailor Man,^[a] Disney's Horace Horsecollar, and Hergé's Tintin entered the public ___domain through their respective debut appearances in 2025.^[8][b] The same happened for the first Tarzan strips illustrated by Hal Foster.^[7]

Notable musical works entering the public ___domain include George Gershwin's composition An American in Paris and the first recordings of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. Among the popular songs that entered the public ___domain in 2025 are "Ain't Misbehavin'", "Can't We Be Friends?", "Honeysuckle Rose", "I Guess I'll Have to Change My Plan", "Just You, Just Me", "Liza (All the Clouds'll Roll Away)", "More Than You Know", "Singin' in the Rain", "Stardust" (the 1929 version with words by Mitchell Parish), "What Is This Thing Called Love?", "With a Song in My Heart", and "Without a Song".

The Broadway Melody, MGM's first musical film and the winner of the second Academy Award for Best Picture, entered the public ___domain in 2025

Among the films that entered public ___domain in 2025 are the following:

• The Cocoanuts, the first film of the Marx Brothers;
• The Broadway Melody, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's first musical film and the first sound film (and second overall film) to win the Academy Award for Best Picture;
• The Hollywood Revue, MGM's second musical film, starring Conrad Nagel and Jack Benny;
• Say It with Songs, the first all-talking film starring Al Jolson;
• Spite Marriage, Buster Keaton's final full-length feature as a director;
• Welcome Danger, Harold Lloyd's first sound film;
• On with the Show!, the first sound film in color;
• Hallelujah, one of the first films with an all-African American cast produced by a major studio;
• The Cock-Eyed World, sequel to 1926's What Price Glory?;
• Show Boat, containing some songs from the 1927 musical;
• Blackmail, Alfred Hitchcock's first sound film and the first British sound film;
• The Black Watch, John Ford's first sound film;
• Dynamite, Cecil B. DeMille's first sound film;
• Eternal Love, John Barrymore's last silent film;
• The Virginian, Gary Cooper's and Victor Fleming's first sound film;
• Where East Is East, Lon Chaney's last collaboration with Tod Browning;
• Atlantic, the first sound film about the Titanic disaster;
• The Return of Sherlock Holmes, the first sound film to star the titular detective;
• Behind That Curtain, the first sound film to star the character Charlie Chan;
• The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu, the first sound film to star the titular Chinese villain;
• Bulldog Drummond, the first sound film to star the character of the same name;
• the first French sound film The Three Masks (Les trois masques);
• the first German sound film Land Without Women (Das Land ohne Frauen);
• Fritz Lang's Woman in the Moon (Frau im Mond);
• G. W. Pabst's Pandora’s Box (Die Büchse der Pandora) and Diary of a Lost Girl (Tagebuch einer Verlorenen), both starring Louise Brooks;
• Pabst and Arnold Fanck's The White Hell of Pitz Palu (Die weiße Hölle vom Piz Palü), starring Leni Riefenstahl;
• Drifters, a documentary film about Britain's North Sea herring fishery;
• Un Chien Andalou, directed by Luis Buñuel and cowritten by Salvador Dalí;
• Man Ray's The Mysteries of the Chateau of Dice (Les mystères du Château du Dé);
• the Dutch documentary short Rain, directed by Joris Ivens;
• the sound versions of the Mickey Mouse cartoons The Gallopin' Gaucho and Plane Crazy, as well as Mickey's 1929 cartoons, including The Karnival Kid (in which Mickey speaks his first words); and
• Walt Disney's first five Silly Symphony cartoons, including The Skeleton Dance.

 

A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway

Examples of important literary works entering the public ___domain include Ernest Hemingway's novel A Farewell to Arms, William Seabrook's novel The Magic Island (the first book to introduce the concept of a zombie). Ellery Queen's detective novel The Roman Hat Mystery, Margery Allingham's detective novel The Crime at Black Dudley, the first English translation of Erich Maria Remarque's novel All Quiet on the Western Front, Alfred Döblin's novel Berlin Alexanderplatz in its original German, Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay's novel Pather Panchali in its original Bengali, Lynd Ward's wordless novel Gods' Man, William Faulkner's novel The Sound and the Fury, Dashiell Hammett's novel Red Harvest, Edgar Rice Burroughs's novel Tarzan and the Lost Empire, Ruth Plumly Thompson's novel Jack Pumpkinhead of Oz, Bertrand Russell's book Marriage and Morals, Patrick Hamilton's play Rope, A. A. Milne's play Toad of Toad Hall, Virginia Woolf's essay A Room of One's Own, Ludwig Wittgenstein's essay Some Remarks on Logical Form and the first part of the 14th edition of Encyclopædia Britannica (full in public ___domain by 2029).

Important artworks entering the public ___domain include Salvador Dalí's paintings The Great Masturbator and The Accommodations of Desire, Wassily Kandinsky's painting Upward, Edward Hopper's painting Chop Suey, Kawamura Kiyoo's painting Founding of the Nation, Julio Romero de Torres' painting La Fuensanta, M. C. Escher's print Strada di Scanno, the first design of the Barcelona chair and August Sander's photograph Berlin Coal Carrier and other photographs from his 1929 photobook Face of our Time. The public ___domain status of René Magritte's painting The Treachery of Images is contentious.^{[needs update][9]}

See also

• List of American films of 1929
• 1954 in literature and 1974 in literature for deaths of writers
• Public Domain Day
• Creative Commons

Notes

1. Of those Thimble Theatre strips from 1929 that Popeye appears in, only his debut strip had its copyright renewed properly by King Features Syndicate.
2. Tintin was not published in the United States until 1959; therefore, the American localization of his character will remain under copyright until 2055.

References

1. "How long does copyright last?". National Library of Australia. Archived from the original on 20 December 2024. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
2. "An Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on April 7, 2022 and other measures". Parliament of Canada. 2022-06-23. Archived from the original on 2023-01-01. Retrieved 2022-11-28.
3. "PC Number: 2022-1219". Government of Canada. 2022-11-17. Archived from the original on 2022-11-28. Retrieved 2022-11-28.
4. "Crown Copyright - FAQ". Government of Canada. www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca. Archived from the original on 7 February 2024. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
5. Hirtle, Peter B. (3 January 2020). "Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States". Cornell University Library Copyright Information Center. Archived from the original on 11 September 2017. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
6. "Copyright and the Public Domain". Public Domain Information Project. Archived from the original on 2014-08-01. Retrieved 2019-01-23.
7. "Public Domain: Mickey and More in '24 - The Daily Cartoonist". www.dailycartoonist.com. 2023-12-19. Retrieved 2024-01-16.
8. "Eat Your Spinach with a Side of Public Domain". Harris County Robert W. Hainsworth Law Library. 2021-03-26. Archived from the original on 2021-03-26. Retrieved 2023-06-23.
9. "Public Domain Day 2025 | Duke University School of Law". Archived from the original on 2025-01-02. Retrieved 2025-01-03.

External links

•   Media related to Public Domain Day 2025 at Wikimedia Commons
• "Authors by Year of Death – 1954". AuthorAndBookInfo.com.
• Popular Books of 1929 at Goodreads