The Public Domain “Class of 2014″ | Open Knowledge Foundation Blog

" ...Top Row (left to right): George Washington Carver; Sergei Rachmaninoff; Shaul Tchernichovsky Middle Row (left to right): Sophie Taeuber-Arp; Nikola Tesla; Kostis Palamas; Max Wertheimer Bottom Row (left to right): Simone Weil; Chaim Soutine; Fats Waller; Beatrix Potter ...     Pictured above is our top pick of people whose works will, on 1st January 2014, be entering the public domain in those countries with a ‘life plus 70 years’ copyright term (e.g. most European Union members, Brazil, Israel, Nigeria, Russia, Turkey, etc.). As usual it’s an eclectic bunch who have assembled for our graduation photo – including two very different geniuses of the piano, a French mystic, the creator of Peter Rabbit, one of the 20th century’s most important inventors, a poet who penned the Olympic Hymn, and a man known as the “Black Leonardo” who pretty much single-handedly created the peanut industry. The unifying factor bringing them all together is that all died in the year of 1943, and so their works, in many places, will be given a new lease of life as they pass into the public domain. Below is a little bit more about each of their lives (with each name linking through to their respective Wikipedia pages, from which each text has been based)."