Once again, New Year’s Day brought us more than resolutions, football games, and hangovers. On January 1st, works first published in 1929 (or, in the case of sound recordings, 1924) that were previously protected by copyright entered the public domain.
Once a work becomes part of the public domain, anyone can reproduce it or create derivative works based on it, and then sell those reproductions or derivative works.
These public domain works can, therefore, be circulated online, adapted by theater and film producers, photocopied for students, covered by musicians, and converted into new media, all without the need to obtain permissions or pay royalties.
Books that have now entered the public domain include the first English-language version of All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque (translated by Arthur Wesley Wheen); A Farewell to Arms, by Ernest Hemingway; The Roman Hat Mystery, by Ellery Queen; A Room of One’s Own, by Virginia Woolf; Seven Dials Mystery, by Agatha Christie; and The Sound and the Fury, by William Faulkner.
Several more Mickey Mouse animations entered the public domain on January 1st, along with Blackmail, directed by Alfred Hitchcock; The Broadway Melody, directed by Harry Beaumont; The Cocoanuts, directed by Robert Florey and Joseph Santley; Hallelujah, directed by King Vidor; and Show Boat, directed by Harry A. Pollard.
In addition, Popeye, the character, has entered the public domain, as have Tintin and his dog Snowy.
Arthur Freed’s Singin’ in the Rain, George Gershwin’s An American in Paris, Maurice Ravel’s Bolero, Jack Yellen’s Happy Days Are Here Again, and Cole Porter’s What Is This Thing Called Love? are among the compositions that entered the public domain this past Wednesday.
Sound recordings that have entered the public domain include California Here I Come, recorded by Al Jolson; Deep Blue Sea Blues, recorded by Clara Smith; It Had To Be You, recorded by the Isham Jones Orchestra and by Marion Harris; Krooked Blues, recorded by King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band featuring Louis Armstrong; and Rhapsody in Blue, recorded by George Gershwin.
You’ll still need to be careful when reproducing and distributing these works (or works based on these works), though, since they may still be protected in countries other than the US.
Also, newer derivative works (including “talkie” versions of silent films and translations in other languages) of the 1929 originals are likely still protected.
If you want to reproduce a work that has not yet entered the public domain, you’ll need to either obtain permission from the copyright owner, pay for a compulsory license (in the case of music) or rely on the doctrine of fair use.
According to the copyright statute, at least the following four factors must be considered when determining whether copying is a fair use:
1. The nature of the original work;
2. The nature and purpose of the use, including whether it is for commercial use or for nonprofit educational purposes and whether the use is “transformative” (adding something new);
3. The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the original work as a whole; and
4. The effect the copying would have on the market for, or value of, the original work.
As you can see, there are no “bright line” rules defining fair use. Rather, a court must weigh various factors on a case-by-case basis. Even the courts have difficulty coming to agreement on whether a use is a fair one.
Please feel free to contact us if you’re in doubt as to whether a work is in the public domain or whether your copying of someone else’s work – or their copying of your work – is likely to be found a fair use or an infringement.
Image: King Features Syndicate, Inc., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
