These 1923 Copyrighted Works Enter the Public Domain in 2019

ab1630's bookmarks 2018-04-14

Summary:

"For the first time in twenty years, as the Atlantic points out, a whole year’s worth of copyrighted works will enter the public domain in the U.S. on January 1, 2019. Under the terms of the Sonny Bono Copyright Act, works first published in 1923 will enter the public domain, meaning anyone can re-publish them, or chop them up and use them in other projects, without asking permission or paying the old rights holders. You can record new versions of the musical compositions; you can show the movies for a profit; you can even remake them. Amazon can sell you the ebook and keep all the money, and Project Gutenberg can give you the ebook for free. The Atlantic has a short list; we have a longer one below. You can even make new copyrighted works based on the old works—the way Disney made all its cartoons based on public-domain fairy tales—and people can’t copy any of the new parts you include. (That’s why anyone can make movie about the fairy tale of Snow White and the seven dwarves, but only Disney can make new things where the dwarves are named Grumpy, Sleepy, Sneezy, Dopey, Happy, Bashful, and Doc.) Speaking of Disney, they’re the ones who lobbied for such long copyright terms, because in 1998 Mickey Mouse’s first appearance (in the 1928 cartoon Steamboat Willie) was close to losing its copyright. But after the Sonny Bono Act, Now that first Mickey Mouse appearance will enter the public domain in 2024. Walt Disney had just started his company in 1923, but they hadn’t produced anything major. So we won’t get any free Disney stuff in January...."

Link:

https://lifehacker.com/these-1923-copyrighted-works-enter-the-public-domain-in-1825241296

From feeds:

Open Access Tracking Project (OATP) » ab1630's bookmarks

Tags:

oa.new oa.pd oa.usa oa.reuse oa.ch oa.humanities oa.arts oa.literature oa.images oa.fair_use oa.copyright oa.ssh

Date tagged:

04/14/2018, 14:54

Date published:

04/14/2018, 10:54