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Over the last 75-years, powerful authors, publishing companies and media companies have managed to extend, extend and extend the copyright protection since original terms were set. Now at 77-years after the author's/creator's death, there seems to be little spirited to extend even more in the
US, especially since European companies allow only 75 to 80-years and certain characters, titles or themes are used freely in those countries - why should they be protected more than an additional 20-years in the US?
The Heirs of ACDoyle have been fighting anyone using the Sherlock Holmes character name or likeness until "the last in the series of Sherlock Holmes Novels copyrights expire" instead of the first like most laws and courts have ruled - costing the authors thousands of dollars to defend themselves. Well, this year, the last ACDoyle of Sherlock Holmes stories expires and using the name or likeness in new settings is fair game.
It is very likely that the 100-year expiration (or 77-years after death of the author) will be extended in the next few years as Disney has already started lobbying to keep early Mickey Mouse content under Copyright protection.
but for now, here are...
Some notable additions to the public domain in 2023
Films
"Metropolis," Fritz Lang
"The Jazz Singer," Alan Crosland
"Wings," William A. Wellman
"The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog," Alfred Hitchcock
"The King of Kings," Cecil B. Demille
"Upstream," John Ford
Books
"To the Lighthouse," Virginia Woolf
"Men Without Women," Ernest Hemingway
"The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes," Arthur Conan Doyle
"The Big Four," Agatha Christie
"Now We Are Six," A.A. Milne
"Amerika," Franz Kafka
"Le Temps retrouvé," Marcel Proust
"The Bridge of San Luis Rey," Thornton Wilder
Music
"The Best Things in Life Are Free," George Gard De Sylva, Lew Brown, Ray Henderson; from the musical "Good News"
"Puttin' on the Ritz," Irving Berlin
"(I Scream You Scream, We All Scream for) Ice Cream," Howard Johnson, Billy Moll, Robert A. King
"Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man"; "Ol' Man River," Oscar Hammerstein II, Jerome Kern; from the musical "Show Boat"
"Potato Head Blues, Gully Low Blues," Louis Armstrong
"S' Wonderful," George and Ira Gershwin; from the musical "Funny Face"
US, especially since European companies allow only 75 to 80-years and certain characters, titles or themes are used freely in those countries - why should they be protected more than an additional 20-years in the US?
The Heirs of ACDoyle have been fighting anyone using the Sherlock Holmes character name or likeness until "the last in the series of Sherlock Holmes Novels copyrights expire" instead of the first like most laws and courts have ruled - costing the authors thousands of dollars to defend themselves. Well, this year, the last ACDoyle of Sherlock Holmes stories expires and using the name or likeness in new settings is fair game.
It is very likely that the 100-year expiration (or 77-years after death of the author) will be extended in the next few years as Disney has already started lobbying to keep early Mickey Mouse content under Copyright protection.
but for now, here are...
Some notable additions to the public domain in 2023
Films
"Metropolis," Fritz Lang
"The Jazz Singer," Alan Crosland
"Wings," William A. Wellman
"The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog," Alfred Hitchcock
"The King of Kings," Cecil B. Demille
"Upstream," John Ford
Books
"To the Lighthouse," Virginia Woolf
"Men Without Women," Ernest Hemingway
"The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes," Arthur Conan Doyle
"The Big Four," Agatha Christie
"Now We Are Six," A.A. Milne
"Amerika," Franz Kafka
"Le Temps retrouvé," Marcel Proust
"The Bridge of San Luis Rey," Thornton Wilder
Music
"The Best Things in Life Are Free," George Gard De Sylva, Lew Brown, Ray Henderson; from the musical "Good News"
"Puttin' on the Ritz," Irving Berlin
"(I Scream You Scream, We All Scream for) Ice Cream," Howard Johnson, Billy Moll, Robert A. King
"Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man"; "Ol' Man River," Oscar Hammerstein II, Jerome Kern; from the musical "Show Boat"
"Potato Head Blues, Gully Low Blues," Louis Armstrong
"S' Wonderful," George and Ira Gershwin; from the musical "Funny Face"
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