15 ms·

What will enter the public domain in 2025?

405 points by Tomte 2y ago

aaronbrethorst 2y ago
I, for one, am looking forward to A Farewell to Arms and Zombies, inevitably coming out soon.
- gweinberg 2y ago
  I guess putting a book on a trash can to trap your possessed severed hand is considered fair use.
Amorymeltzer 2y ago
It's advent calendar-style, so <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_in_public_domain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_in_public_domain> might be more informative.
- leoc 2y ago
  Red Harvest is in there? You can be sure that number of film and TV writers, and perhaps directors and producers, have set their alarm clocks for that one. https://crimereads.com/the-strange-cinematic-afterlife-of-red-harvest/ https://crimereads.com/the-strange-cinematic-afterlife-of-re...
  - cxr 2y ago
    You may be interested to know that the story for The Maltese Falcon, not listed, will also be entering public domain because it was published in monthly installments in Black Mask magazine before it was published as a novel. (Any changes between the publication in Black Mask and those made for the novelization, if significant enough, will of course still be under copyright and so the novelization proper still won't be entering public domain for another 13 months.) We have had difficulty getting our hands on these issues, though (or scans of them). It's interesting that AMC just launched a series featuring Sam Spade this year, the year before the character goes into the public domain…
    - qingcharles 2y ago
      When you say, "we" who do you mean? Are the magazines particularly rare?
      - cxr 2y ago
        Those of us trying to get them scanned in and online. Black Mask is pretty rare. Brooks Hefner at James Madison University oversaw the acquisition/accession (I think) of their Black Mask collection, of which they have quite a bit in comparison to other places, but it's still incomplete. The Ransom Center in Austin specializes in rare and collectible items, but only has one or two issues. The Library of Congress may well have a complete collection, but what they do have isn't digitized because the pages are brittle and are literally falling apart (even moreso than other/older printed material).
        blacksqr 2y ago
        Godspeed to all working on this.
        qingcharles 2y ago
        I'm guessing you're already on the Pulp Scans group, right?
        cxr 2y ago
        No.
    - bryanrasmussen 2y ago
      Dashiel Hammet died in 1961 so wouldn't that mean the Maltese Falcon will still in PD until 2031 in the EU?
      - cxr 2y ago
        https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_the_shorter_term https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_the_shorter_term
- GeoAtreides 2y ago
  No notable wroters, except one: Pär Lagerkvist
- kayge 2y ago
  Or if you want to peek ahead like a kid who's bound for the Naughty list, you can use dev tools and add the 'will-open' class to any of those <button> elements :)
- account42 2y ago
  Yes. the advent calendar is an odd choice. Do they really expect people to go back to the site every day to find out what the images refer to?
  - Goodbichon 2y ago
    I guess it is meant to be a bit of fun, creating a sense of a countdown to the "big day". A few people might go back and check each day, but I suppose most will just catch a few days on social media (they do a post every day saying saying what the new window reveal is), or just check back on January 1st, which is public domain day, and when all windows will have been revealed. They do a blogpost on that day too which unrolls the whole selection of highlights. E.g. see this one from PD day of this year: https://publicdomainreview.org/blog/2024/01/public-domain-day-2024/ https://publicdomainreview.org/blog/2024/01/public-domain-da.... That's maybe seen as the main thing.
cle 2y ago
Here's the full list, base64-encoded (since HN doesn't support spoilers...) 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
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- zamadatix 2y ago
  For those on the lazy side: A pastebin link option https://pastebin.com/raw/9wfPfzT3 https://pastebin.com/raw/9wfPfzT3
  - saghm 2y ago
    At the risk of the above comment being edited and making this stop working, here's an alternative lazy version: curl https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42291112 | grep 'QSBSb[^<]\+' -o | base64 --decode
    - zamadatix 2y ago
      The lazy version is more targeted for the mobile users browsing by for the first ~24 hours not wanting to try to copy the data or find a way to run commands. For the desktop-ers, future travellers, or just generally private/skeptical mobile users among us I'd recommend this method https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42291434 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42291434 for the private long lasting lazy experience (no external tools necessary, but you do need to perform a manual copy into your URL bar).
GeneticGenesis 2y ago
I know it's not public domain per-say, but for me, the thing that's most exciting is that in 2025, the last remaining patents on the h.264 (AVC) video codec will expire [1]. Now if only HEVC wasn't such a hot patent / licensing mess. [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Have_the_patents_for_H.264_MPEG-4_AVC_expired_yet%3F https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Have_the_patents_for_H.264_M...
- iterance 2y ago
  Just thought you might want to know - it's "per se" not "per say"/variations thereof.
  - asveikau 2y ago
    Per se is latin for "for itself".
    - casta 2y ago
      I'd say "by itself".
      - asveikau 2y ago
        That's another valid translation for the same preposition. And there are many definitions of English "for" as well. This would fit the one used in the phrase "if not for this, ..." In other words, for itself = by virtue of itself, through the existence of itself. Also note in terms of Indo European roots, per is a cognate with English for.
        dhosek 2y ago
        Prepositions are some of the least translatable bits of language. For that matter, even without translation they tend to get slippery within a language, especially over time (one that springs to mind is the whole “quarter of” referring to a time which I first encountered some 50 years ago and still don’t know if it’s quarter to or quarter after).¹ ⸻ 1. Cue some dude to tell me in 3…2…1² 2. And this knowledge will promptly disappear from my brain five minutes later, sort of like the guy I knew in my 20s whose name was either Jack or Chad and to this date, I still am not sure, but I do know that every single time I called him by name, I got it wrong and it totally wasn’t on purpose even though he didn’t believe me.
swyx 2y ago
handpicked selection of notables: - Frida Kahlo - Henri Matisse - Alan Turing i guess the Chrysler Building is public domain now? what can you do with a buidling?
- diggan 2y ago
  > i guess the Chrysler Building is public domain now? what can you do with a buidling? I guess maybe the design of the building, if anything? If that will become public domain, expect it to appear in Macau in a year or less, and probably other places :)
- Rebelgecko 2y ago
  Kind of a niche, but the open world Spiderman video games stopped including the Chrysler Building due to licensing issues after it was bought by new owners in ~2019
- shiroiushi 2y ago
  You wouldn't download a building.
  - poulpy123 2y ago
    I would if I could ! but my 3D printer is a bit to small
- GeoAtreides 2y ago
  Also the writer Pär Lagerkvist, nobel award winner
- jabroni_salad 2y ago
  There was some crank that once C&D'd a minecraft server for reproducing copyrighted buildings. I dont think he had the guts to take it to court though. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9y2IiZvg1xQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9y2IiZvg1xQ
- tas50 2y ago
  The building going into public domain is actually pretty sweet. Here in Portland we have this really cool looking statue in front of our city hall called the Portlandia statue (way before the show). You'd think it would be shown all over in pictures of our city, but the guy that made it owns the copyright and enforces the shit out of it. Because of that it's entirely unknown. No one wants to publish a picture and pay him. When that enters public down in a SUPER long time it will be easily published and folks might actually know it exists. https://www.wweek.com/archive/2024/03/24/why-the-portlandia-statue-failed-to-become-an-icon/ https://www.wweek.com/archive/2024/03/24/why-the-portlandia-...
timpark 2y ago
In May 1998, before the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act went into effect, there was an amusing Tom the Dancing Bug comic regarding characters falling out of copyright. https://www.gocomics.com/tomthedancingbug/1998/05/17 https://www.gocomics.com/tomthedancingbug/1998/05/17 In that vein, similar to the Mickey Mouse and Winnie the Pooh horror movies that have been released in recent years, Popeye will be entering the public domain next year and people are working on a horror movie based on that.
- saghm 2y ago
  Even as someone who isn't really into horror much as a genre, it's hard not to appreciate how one of the first instincts we have as a society when freeing some IP is "We should make a creepy version of this!".
  - Swizec 2y ago
    > it's hard not to appreciate how one of the first instincts we have as a society when freeing some IP is "We should make a creepy version of this!" Almost certainly rule 34 happens first and just gets less attention in public. There were “bear” posters of Pooh all over SOMA (in SF) almost immediately after the copyright ended.
    - ben_w 2y ago
      Rule 34 happens well before copyright expires. Clopfic, Kirk/Spock, or ask any pile of furries about Robin Hood or Nick Wilde.
    - registeredcorn 2y ago
      What is Soma? I see there is a video game (link)[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soma_(video_game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soma_(video_game)], but have no idea what it means in this context. Are you saying there is some kind of add-on for that?
      - hollerith 2y ago
MichaelZuo 2y ago
I think practically a lot more things are in the public domain because they were distributed via the internet to certain countries that until recently had a much lower bar than the Berne Convention standard and entered the public domain there. Edit: or had at least one person make at least one copy there. If the law allowed everyone to make one copy for private use. Or perhaps I’m misunderstanding ? e.g. Ethiopia which only shifted to a quasi Berne standard midway through 2004.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- pbhjpbhj 2y ago
  It would still be infringing to bring a copy into some countries from Ethiopia. UK doesn't have fair use, for example.
  - MichaelZuo 2y ago
    Yes, but on the internet someone in the UK can just get a connection to some server in Ethiopia hosting this vast treasure trove of works. So maybe not de jure, but probably de facto. Edit: And maybe it is de jure too for those on a ship on the high seas?
    - pbhjpbhj 2y ago
      Oh sure, you can, it's tortuous though. Pirate radio worked, but listeners don't make a copy, ... it's a good question, I think if you fixed the work long enough to read/watch a text/video then it would be considered to be at least contributory infringement.
- gbear605 2y ago
  It depends on your purpose. If you’re an American who wants to make movies for Americans, that are derivative of one of these works, this matters a lot.
  - 2y ago
cxr 2y ago
Unfortunately, public domain isn't everything. There are lots of works that we know of and that we should be able to share with one another, but it's hard to come by copies. To give one example: The novel Red Harvest from 1929 is listed as entering the public domain next month. But the thing is that prior to being published as a novel, it was serialized in Black Mask magazine, and since all installments were published pre-1929, they're all already in the public domain. The trouble, though, is that despite being public domain, actually getting your hands on these issues, whether in real life or figuratively as scans is something that poses a challenge—we simply don't have easy access to this material. And that goes for lots of other stuff that we know about but don't have copies at hand.
- aspenmayer 2y ago
  If it’s in the public domain, you can make legal derivative works even without the source material, can’t you? Or can you?
  - nemomarx 2y ago
    If the serialized one is in the public domain and a book isn't, then your work might be seen as derivative of the book anyway. For instance the recent Wicked movie (and book, and play, etc) can't use ruby red slippers, because that was a detail only in the relativley more recent movie, so even though the original wizard of oz book has been in the public domain a while, some details are siloed off. I think the Holmes stories had disputes like this for a while too, where if you mentioned certain side characters it might infringe a more recent adaptation or etc.
    - aspenmayer 2y ago
      I can see how having the public domain source material might be necessary to defend yourself against claims of infringement of the non-public domain works. That makes sense to me.
    - recursivecaveat 2y ago
      The Holmes situation was even sillier than that: they were arguing that certain personality traits of Sherlock were still under copyright: https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/conan-doyle-estate-sues-netflix-enola-holmes/ https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/conan-doyle-estate-sues-net...
distantsounds 2y ago
I'd love to know! Too bad this website only gives a small selection of what those items are, despite the entire lists already being published elsewhere! Very useful, thanks Hacker News!
aucisson_masque 2y ago
70 years feels so long for movie or book. I get it’s important to protect the right of authors and companies but damn it’s 3 generations. Something my grand grand father may have seen, that’s insane. 25 year, a single generation would make sense. I’d argue that by then all the money would have been made and you would allow new generation to grow up with the greatest art from previous generation, it would be like a virtuous circle. Next generation would improve based on previous one And so on.
- adamc 2y ago
  I think that's too short. Lifetime of the author or a min. 50 years would make sense to me. Mark Twain, for example, was worried about providing for surviving daughters. I think that's reasonable. The crazy long Disney thing, though, is what it is because of lobbying muscle.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  - ronsor 2y ago
    I think that's still too long when copyright was originally supposed to be a compromise between society and the author, not a indefinite guarantee for an author. I understand the concern of providing for family, but keep in mind that the average person works continuously to provide for their family and has to be responsible enough to save money. It is not society's responsibility to ensure that; and alternatively if it is to be society's responsibility, there are better mechanisms than copyright.
    - account42 2y ago
      Exactly, copyright was never meant to be a retirement plan or to act as wellfare for orphans.
  - lolinder 2y ago
    > Mark Twain, for example, was worried about providing for surviving daughters. I think that's reasonable. I don't think it's reasonable to expect to be able to continue to make money after you are dead. Earn enough during your lifetime to provide for your surviving daughters, sure, but I don't like the idea of someone being able to posthumously put a gag on people's ability to express themselves just so that their kids can get a nice inheritance.
aaron695 2y ago
[dead]
m3kw9 2y ago
How do people typically make money from these new things
tzs 2y ago
As is usual there is quite a bit of discussion here on copyright reform, which is mostly just suggestions to change the term of copyright. I think it would be interesting to consider other reforms. Note that copyright is not just a single right. It is a bundle of rights. In the US those are the copying right, the derivative work right, the distribution right, the performance right, the display right, and some others. The bundle of rights might be different in other jurisdictions but in most it is similar. In the rest of this comment I'll only be consideringd US copyright. First, I don't see why all of those rights should all have the same term. I see no reason to believe that the optimal term for say the copying right and the optimal term for the derivative work right would be the same. Second, how about adding more compulsory licenses? US copyright law already has some compulsory licenses (also called mechanical licenses), such as for cover songs. Briefly, a federal agency called the Copyright Royalty Board sets the terms and rates for these licenses, and anyone can obtain the license according to those rates and terms, regardless of whether or not the copyright owner wants to license the work to them. For example suppose we made it so that the copying and distribution rights have a three phase lifetime instead of the current two phases (which are an exclusive phase tied to the author's lifetime followed by public domain). The three phase lifetime could be (1) an exclusive phase of a fixed number of years, followed by (2) a compulsory license phase, followed by (3) public domain. The derivative work right is the hard one. On the one hand a short term allows others to play in an author's universe. I've seen some really good and really well written fan fiction that is not currently technically legal, especially crossover fan fiction that merges the story universes of different authors. Encouraging this would be good. On the other hand some things would be ruined if they became public domain too quickly. I'm quite pleased that Bill Watterson still gets to decide who can make "Calvin & Hobbes" derivative works. If copyright was only 14 or 21 years (terms people often suggest), I've no doubt that every character from "Calvin & Hobbes" would have started appearing in ads as soon as the copyright expired.
- dmonitor 2y ago
  On that last note, perhaps some exceptions should be drawn for advertising in particular.
- account42 2y ago
clarkmoody 2y ago
Previous civilizations were able to own their cultural myths. Modern civilization's cultural myths are controlled by giant faceless corporations with legions of lawyers. No one can tell a new story about Han, Luke, and Leia without permission from the House of Mouse.
- asimpletune 2y ago
  I agree that the way things were along time ago was more natural and definitely more creative. Things today though are way different though. A huge difference is that media wasn’t an industry back then. Most people couldn’t even read. The retelling of myths would mostly happen in the form of poetry or drama performed publicly, and the performance schedule was tightly controlled in the form of contests and festivals to honor various things across the calendar. There’s not really analogue to that now. We are truly in uncharted territory, and that was the case since the printing press. Throw in the invention of the internet and it’s a giant mess. I’m optimistic though that we can resolve it and pave a way forward.
  - Retric 2y ago
    Storytelling was both a profession and an industry in antiquity. Just as rock concerts and bar bands exist today, amphitheaters weren’t the only way people would watch performances.
- immibis 2y ago
  Or a Tor onion service.
- narski 2y ago
  At least in the case of the Maya, literacy was carefully guarded so that a small class of priests could exercise precisely this kind of control. In fact, this is believed to be one of the reasons why modern Mayan languages are written in the Latin alphabet, even though there's a complete Mayan script that was the most developed writing system in the Americas until the conquest.
- s1artibartfast 2y ago
nottorp 2y ago
Most are still books in that list. But there is no readable version of it, just photos :) Next year it will be a link to a tiktok movie?
hoseja 2y ago
Oh hey look Crowley. It's fascinating to me that like 95% of what anglos see as "occult" or "magic" is directly descended from that very recent grifter. Also see vampires and Stoker (though that's not as intentional).
retrac 2y ago
Thanks to the retroactive extension here in Canada, nothing.
gnulinux 2y ago
In the US, a random/personal selection of major works that will be public domain are: * Ernest Hemingway's novel "A Farewell to Arms" * Ludwig Wittgenstein's essay "Some Remarks on Logical Form" * The first part of the 14th edition of Encyclopædia Britannica * William Faulkner's novel "The Sound and the Fury" * René Magritte's painting "The Treachery of Images" * Wassily Kandinsky's painting "Upward" * "Un chien Andalou", directed by Luis Bunuel and cowritten by Salvador Dali * "The Cocoanuts", the first film of the Marx Brothers * the first "Silly Symphony" cartoons, including "The Skeleton Dance". Not a bad year at all!

405 points by Tomte 2y ago

aaronbrethorst 2y ago

I, for one, am looking forward to A Farewell to Arms and Zombies, inevitably coming out soon.

gweinberg 2y ago
I guess putting a book on a trash can to trap your possessed severed hand is considered fair use.

Amorymeltzer 2y ago

It's advent calendar-style, so <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_in_public_domain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_in_public_domain> might be more informative.

leoc 2y ago
Red Harvest is in there? You can be sure that number of film and TV writers, and perhaps directors and producers, have set their alarm clocks for that one. https://crimereads.com/the-strange-cinematic-afterlife-of-red-harvest/ https://crimereads.com/the-strange-cinematic-afterlife-of-re...
- cxr 2y ago
  You may be interested to know that the story for The Maltese Falcon, not listed, will also be entering public domain because it was published in monthly installments in Black Mask magazine before it was published as a novel. (Any changes between the publication in Black Mask and those made for the novelization, if significant enough, will of course still be under copyright and so the novelization proper still won't be entering public domain for another 13 months.) We have had difficulty getting our hands on these issues, though (or scans of them). It's interesting that AMC just launched a series featuring Sam Spade this year, the year before the character goes into the public domain…
  - qingcharles 2y ago
    When you say, "we" who do you mean? Are the magazines particularly rare?
    - cxr 2y ago
      Those of us trying to get them scanned in and online. Black Mask is pretty rare. Brooks Hefner at James Madison University oversaw the acquisition/accession (I think) of their Black Mask collection, of which they have quite a bit in comparison to other places, but it's still incomplete. The Ransom Center in Austin specializes in rare and collectible items, but only has one or two issues. The Library of Congress may well have a complete collection, but what they do have isn't digitized because the pages are brittle and are literally falling apart (even moreso than other/older printed material).
      - blacksqr 2y ago
        Godspeed to all working on this.
      - qingcharles 2y ago
        I'm guessing you're already on the Pulp Scans group, right?
        cxr 2y ago
        No.
  - bryanrasmussen 2y ago
    Dashiel Hammet died in 1961 so wouldn't that mean the Maltese Falcon will still in PD until 2031 in the EU?
    - cxr 2y ago
      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_the_shorter_term https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_the_shorter_term
GeoAtreides 2y ago
No notable wroters, except one: Pär Lagerkvist
kayge 2y ago
Or if you want to peek ahead like a kid who's bound for the Naughty list, you can use dev tools and add the 'will-open' class to any of those <button> elements :)
account42 2y ago
Yes. the advent calendar is an odd choice. Do they really expect people to go back to the site every day to find out what the images refer to?
- Goodbichon 2y ago
  I guess it is meant to be a bit of fun, creating a sense of a countdown to the "big day". A few people might go back and check each day, but I suppose most will just catch a few days on social media (they do a post every day saying saying what the new window reveal is), or just check back on January 1st, which is public domain day, and when all windows will have been revealed. They do a blogpost on that day too which unrolls the whole selection of highlights. E.g. see this one from PD day of this year: https://publicdomainreview.org/blog/2024/01/public-domain-day-2024/ https://publicdomainreview.org/blog/2024/01/public-domain-da.... That's maybe seen as the main thing.

cle 2y ago

Here's the full list, base64-encoded (since HN doesn't support spoilers...) 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

deleted 2y ago
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zamadatix 2y ago
For those on the lazy side: A pastebin link option https://pastebin.com/raw/9wfPfzT3 https://pastebin.com/raw/9wfPfzT3
- saghm 2y ago
  At the risk of the above comment being edited and making this stop working, here's an alternative lazy version: curl https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42291112 | grep 'QSBSb[^<]\+' -o | base64 --decode
  - zamadatix 2y ago
    The lazy version is more targeted for the mobile users browsing by for the first ~24 hours not wanting to try to copy the data or find a way to run commands. For the desktop-ers, future travellers, or just generally private/skeptical mobile users among us I'd recommend this method https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42291434 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42291434 for the private long lasting lazy experience (no external tools necessary, but you do need to perform a manual copy into your URL bar).

GeneticGenesis 2y ago

I know it's not public domain per-say, but for me, the thing that's most exciting is that in 2025, the last remaining patents on the h.264 (AVC) video codec will expire [1]. Now if only HEVC wasn't such a hot patent / licensing mess. [1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Have_the_patents_for_H.264_MPEG-4_AVC_expired_yet%3F https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Have_the_patents_for_H.264_M...

iterance 2y ago
Just thought you might want to know - it's "per se" not "per say"/variations thereof.
- asveikau 2y ago
  Per se is latin for "for itself".
  - casta 2y ago
    I'd say "by itself".
    - asveikau 2y ago
      That's another valid translation for the same preposition. And there are many definitions of English "for" as well. This would fit the one used in the phrase "if not for this, ..." In other words, for itself = by virtue of itself, through the existence of itself. Also note in terms of Indo European roots, per is a cognate with English for.
      - dhosek 2y ago
        Prepositions are some of the least translatable bits of language. For that matter, even without translation they tend to get slippery within a language, especially over time (one that springs to mind is the whole “quarter of” referring to a time which I first encountered some 50 years ago and still don’t know if it’s quarter to or quarter after).¹ ⸻ 1. Cue some dude to tell me in 3…2…1² 2. And this knowledge will promptly disappear from my brain five minutes later, sort of like the guy I knew in my 20s whose name was either Jack or Chad and to this date, I still am not sure, but I do know that every single time I called him by name, I got it wrong and it totally wasn’t on purpose even though he didn’t believe me.

swyx 2y ago

handpicked selection of notables: - Frida Kahlo - Henri Matisse - Alan Turing i guess the Chrysler Building is public domain now? what can you do with a buidling?

diggan 2y ago
> i guess the Chrysler Building is public domain now? what can you do with a buidling? I guess maybe the design of the building, if anything? If that will become public domain, expect it to appear in Macau in a year or less, and probably other places :)
Rebelgecko 2y ago
Kind of a niche, but the open world Spiderman video games stopped including the Chrysler Building due to licensing issues after it was bought by new owners in ~2019
shiroiushi 2y ago
You wouldn't download a building.
- poulpy123 2y ago
  I would if I could ! but my 3D printer is a bit to small
GeoAtreides 2y ago
Also the writer Pär Lagerkvist, nobel award winner
jabroni_salad 2y ago
There was some crank that once C&D'd a minecraft server for reproducing copyrighted buildings. I dont think he had the guts to take it to court though. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9y2IiZvg1xQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9y2IiZvg1xQ
tas50 2y ago
The building going into public domain is actually pretty sweet. Here in Portland we have this really cool looking statue in front of our city hall called the Portlandia statue (way before the show). You'd think it would be shown all over in pictures of our city, but the guy that made it owns the copyright and enforces the shit out of it. Because of that it's entirely unknown. No one wants to publish a picture and pay him. When that enters public down in a SUPER long time it will be easily published and folks might actually know it exists. https://www.wweek.com/archive/2024/03/24/why-the-portlandia-statue-failed-to-become-an-icon/ https://www.wweek.com/archive/2024/03/24/why-the-portlandia-...

timpark 2y ago

In May 1998, before the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act went into effect, there was an amusing Tom the Dancing Bug comic regarding characters falling out of copyright. https://www.gocomics.com/tomthedancingbug/1998/05/17 https://www.gocomics.com/tomthedancingbug/1998/05/17 In that vein, similar to the Mickey Mouse and Winnie the Pooh horror movies that have been released in recent years, Popeye will be entering the public domain next year and people are working on a horror movie based on that.

saghm 2y ago
Even as someone who isn't really into horror much as a genre, it's hard not to appreciate how one of the first instincts we have as a society when freeing some IP is "We should make a creepy version of this!".
- Swizec 2y ago
  > it's hard not to appreciate how one of the first instincts we have as a society when freeing some IP is "We should make a creepy version of this!" Almost certainly rule 34 happens first and just gets less attention in public. There were “bear” posters of Pooh all over SOMA (in SF) almost immediately after the copyright ended.
  - ben_w 2y ago
    Rule 34 happens well before copyright expires. Clopfic, Kirk/Spock, or ask any pile of furries about Robin Hood or Nick Wilde.
  - registeredcorn 2y ago
    What is Soma? I see there is a video game (link)[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soma_(video_game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soma_(video_game)], but have no idea what it means in this context. Are you saying there is some kind of add-on for that?
    - hollerith 2y ago

MichaelZuo 2y ago

I think practically a lot more things are in the public domain because they were distributed via the internet to certain countries that until recently had a much lower bar than the Berne Convention standard and entered the public domain there. Edit: or had at least one person make at least one copy there. If the law allowed everyone to make one copy for private use. Or perhaps I’m misunderstanding ? e.g. Ethiopia which only shifted to a quasi Berne standard midway through 2004.

deleted 2y ago
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pbhjpbhj 2y ago
It would still be infringing to bring a copy into some countries from Ethiopia. UK doesn't have fair use, for example.
- MichaelZuo 2y ago
  Yes, but on the internet someone in the UK can just get a connection to some server in Ethiopia hosting this vast treasure trove of works. So maybe not de jure, but probably de facto. Edit: And maybe it is de jure too for those on a ship on the high seas?
  - pbhjpbhj 2y ago
    Oh sure, you can, it's tortuous though. Pirate radio worked, but listeners don't make a copy, ... it's a good question, I think if you fixed the work long enough to read/watch a text/video then it would be considered to be at least contributory infringement.
gbear605 2y ago
It depends on your purpose. If you’re an American who wants to make movies for Americans, that are derivative of one of these works, this matters a lot.
- 2y ago

cxr 2y ago

Unfortunately, public domain isn't everything. There are lots of works that we know of and that we should be able to share with one another, but it's hard to come by copies. To give one example: The novel Red Harvest from 1929 is listed as entering the public domain next month. But the thing is that prior to being published as a novel, it was serialized in Black Mask magazine, and since all installments were published pre-1929, they're all already in the public domain. The trouble, though, is that despite being public domain, actually getting your hands on these issues, whether in real life or figuratively as scans is something that poses a challenge—we simply don't have easy access to this material. And that goes for lots of other stuff that we know about but don't have copies at hand.

aspenmayer 2y ago
If it’s in the public domain, you can make legal derivative works even without the source material, can’t you? Or can you?
- nemomarx 2y ago
  If the serialized one is in the public domain and a book isn't, then your work might be seen as derivative of the book anyway. For instance the recent Wicked movie (and book, and play, etc) can't use ruby red slippers, because that was a detail only in the relativley more recent movie, so even though the original wizard of oz book has been in the public domain a while, some details are siloed off. I think the Holmes stories had disputes like this for a while too, where if you mentioned certain side characters it might infringe a more recent adaptation or etc.
  - aspenmayer 2y ago
    I can see how having the public domain source material might be necessary to defend yourself against claims of infringement of the non-public domain works. That makes sense to me.
  - recursivecaveat 2y ago
    The Holmes situation was even sillier than that: they were arguing that certain personality traits of Sherlock were still under copyright: https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/conan-doyle-estate-sues-netflix-enola-holmes/ https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/conan-doyle-estate-sues-net...

distantsounds 2y ago

I'd love to know! Too bad this website only gives a small selection of what those items are, despite the entire lists already being published elsewhere! Very useful, thanks Hacker News!

aucisson_masque 2y ago

70 years feels so long for movie or book. I get it’s important to protect the right of authors and companies but damn it’s 3 generations. Something my grand grand father may have seen, that’s insane. 25 year, a single generation would make sense. I’d argue that by then all the money would have been made and you would allow new generation to grow up with the greatest art from previous generation, it would be like a virtuous circle. Next generation would improve based on previous one And so on.

adamc 2y ago
I think that's too short. Lifetime of the author or a min. 50 years would make sense to me. Mark Twain, for example, was worried about providing for surviving daughters. I think that's reasonable. The crazy long Disney thing, though, is what it is because of lobbying muscle.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- ronsor 2y ago
  I think that's still too long when copyright was originally supposed to be a compromise between society and the author, not a indefinite guarantee for an author. I understand the concern of providing for family, but keep in mind that the average person works continuously to provide for their family and has to be responsible enough to save money. It is not society's responsibility to ensure that; and alternatively if it is to be society's responsibility, there are better mechanisms than copyright.
  - account42 2y ago
    Exactly, copyright was never meant to be a retirement plan or to act as wellfare for orphans.
- lolinder 2y ago
  > Mark Twain, for example, was worried about providing for surviving daughters. I think that's reasonable. I don't think it's reasonable to expect to be able to continue to make money after you are dead. Earn enough during your lifetime to provide for your surviving daughters, sure, but I don't like the idea of someone being able to posthumously put a gag on people's ability to express themselves just so that their kids can get a nice inheritance.

aaron695 2y ago

[dead]

m3kw9 2y ago

How do people typically make money from these new things

tzs 2y ago

As is usual there is quite a bit of discussion here on copyright reform, which is mostly just suggestions to change the term of copyright. I think it would be interesting to consider other reforms. Note that copyright is not just a single right. It is a bundle of rights. In the US those are the copying right, the derivative work right, the distribution right, the performance right, the display right, and some others. The bundle of rights might be different in other jurisdictions but in most it is similar. In the rest of this comment I'll only be consideringd US copyright. First, I don't see why all of those rights should all have the same term. I see no reason to believe that the optimal term for say the copying right and the optimal term for the derivative work right would be the same. Second, how about adding more compulsory licenses? US copyright law already has some compulsory licenses (also called mechanical licenses), such as for cover songs. Briefly, a federal agency called the Copyright Royalty Board sets the terms and rates for these licenses, and anyone can obtain the license according to those rates and terms, regardless of whether or not the copyright owner wants to license the work to them. For example suppose we made it so that the copying and distribution rights have a three phase lifetime instead of the current two phases (which are an exclusive phase tied to the author's lifetime followed by public domain). The three phase lifetime could be (1) an exclusive phase of a fixed number of years, followed by (2) a compulsory license phase, followed by (3) public domain. The derivative work right is the hard one. On the one hand a short term allows others to play in an author's universe. I've seen some really good and really well written fan fiction that is not currently technically legal, especially crossover fan fiction that merges the story universes of different authors. Encouraging this would be good. On the other hand some things would be ruined if they became public domain too quickly. I'm quite pleased that Bill Watterson still gets to decide who can make "Calvin & Hobbes" derivative works. If copyright was only 14 or 21 years (terms people often suggest), I've no doubt that every character from "Calvin & Hobbes" would have started appearing in ads as soon as the copyright expired.

dmonitor 2y ago
On that last note, perhaps some exceptions should be drawn for advertising in particular.
account42 2y ago

clarkmoody 2y ago

Previous civilizations were able to own their cultural myths. Modern civilization's cultural myths are controlled by giant faceless corporations with legions of lawyers. No one can tell a new story about Han, Luke, and Leia without permission from the House of Mouse.

asimpletune 2y ago
I agree that the way things were along time ago was more natural and definitely more creative. Things today though are way different though. A huge difference is that media wasn’t an industry back then. Most people couldn’t even read. The retelling of myths would mostly happen in the form of poetry or drama performed publicly, and the performance schedule was tightly controlled in the form of contests and festivals to honor various things across the calendar. There’s not really analogue to that now. We are truly in uncharted territory, and that was the case since the printing press. Throw in the invention of the internet and it’s a giant mess. I’m optimistic though that we can resolve it and pave a way forward.
- Retric 2y ago
  Storytelling was both a profession and an industry in antiquity. Just as rock concerts and bar bands exist today, amphitheaters weren’t the only way people would watch performances.
immibis 2y ago
Or a Tor onion service.
narski 2y ago
At least in the case of the Maya, literacy was carefully guarded so that a small class of priests could exercise precisely this kind of control. In fact, this is believed to be one of the reasons why modern Mayan languages are written in the Latin alphabet, even though there's a complete Mayan script that was the most developed writing system in the Americas until the conquest.
s1artibartfast 2y ago

nottorp 2y ago

Most are still books in that list. But there is no readable version of it, just photos :) Next year it will be a link to a tiktok movie?

hoseja 2y ago

Oh hey look Crowley. It's fascinating to me that like 95% of what anglos see as "occult" or "magic" is directly descended from that very recent grifter. Also see vampires and Stoker (though that's not as intentional).

retrac 2y ago

Thanks to the retroactive extension here in Canada, nothing.

gnulinux 2y ago

In the US, a random/personal selection of major works that will be public domain are: * Ernest Hemingway's novel "A Farewell to Arms" * Ludwig Wittgenstein's essay "Some Remarks on Logical Form" * The first part of the 14th edition of Encyclopædia Britannica * William Faulkner's novel "The Sound and the Fury" * René Magritte's painting "The Treachery of Images" * Wassily Kandinsky's painting "Upward" * "Un chien Andalou", directed by Luis Bunuel and cowritten by Salvador Dali * "The Cocoanuts", the first film of the Marx Brothers * the first "Silly Symphony" cartoons, including "The Skeleton Dance". Not a bad year at all!