1921 is shortly after copyright became effectively infinite, and falls in the gulf of books that were lost because they were snatched away from entering the public domain.
Is this true? The few references I find indicate 1921 works became public domain only in 1997. Perhaps it was 1920 works which became public domain in 1977?
This is huge, especially because of the 20-year freeze that just thawed.
On Jan. 1, 2019, all books, movies, and music published in 1923 entered the public domain. It was the first time since the 1990s that anything new entered the public domain, because Congress had extended the length of copyright protection.
If, as the article says, about 80 percent of books published between 1923 and 1964 are also in the public domain, then it's as if 40 years of creative works just came crashing through like a tidal wave to wipe out that 20-year draught!
And perhaps even more important than free access to the works themselves is the ability to adapt and transform these works without restriction. Think about all of the characters from those books that can now become the stars of new stories!
One thing worth pointing out, however, is that the 80 percent of books that did not have their copyright terms renewed are likely to be books that were not commercially successful, so their authors or designees had no strong financial interest in keeping the copyright protected. So don't expect to find many of the most famous works published during this period in the list. Nevertheless, I would not be surprised if there are some true gems that, for whatever reason, did not have their copyright terms renewed, and I'm excited to try to find them!
Or perhaps more significantly: for only the second time in 41 years.
For an entire generation, works simply didn't enter the public domain:
1921 works became public domain in 1977.
Copyright Act extends the term by 20 years in 1978.
1922 works became public domain in 1998.
Sonny Bono Act extends the term by 20 years in 1998.
1923 works became public domain in 2019.
Were it not for these two extensions, we would today see works from 1963 entering the public domain.
Instead, we aren't even up to the first 'talkie' motion pictures.
> All works first published or released before January 1, 1926, have lost their copyright protection, effective January 1, 2021.
That's not the entire story. Sound recordings are a separate category, and pre-1923 sound recordings have a special clause that means they don't enter public domain until 2022.
The difficult period is approximately between the 1920s and 1990s, where books are under copyright and may have become orphan works (rightsholders cannot be found).
Really? Did you even read the post- "The portion of the collection included in this archive, ones published
prior to 1923 and therefore obviously in the public domain..."
Doesn't really make sense, as these same 20s works were the ones that were kept out of the public domain the first time around with the Copyright Term Extension Act.
There's lots of reasons why a work after 1923 might be in the public domain, but as of this year, everything before 1923 is in the public domain. I would guess FOSS/FLOSS software is probably the most likely thing people might recognize as "public domain-like" (due to the issue of taking something public domain, then copyrighting your original work on it e.g. Disney's erstwhile business model).
Copyright could have been abandoned, creator hasn't pursued their claim, it could have been specifically released by the creator, "copyleft", ...
Nothing has entered Public Domain until 2019 IF it isn't extended.
Good case of how it sucks: Sherlock Holmes. Half the stuff is copyrighted and the earlier stuff is Public Domain. So we only get half the stories and nothing about an older Sherlock.
Under US law, between 1925 and 1964, it was necessary to renew copyright every 28 years.[1] There are many works which have fallen out of copyright for nonrenewal, and there are projects which are now going through copyright renewal records to determine which of these are in fact now public domain in the US. Roughly 3/4 of potentially copyrighted works (published since 1924 and initially registered) have proved to be public domain.
Once copyright has lapsed, it cannot be reinstated.
1. Technically, the obligation existed until the 1976 act, at which time copyright status was automatic, but was retroactively waived for works never having lapsed, back to 1964, in the 1992 act. It's complicated. (NYPL link above.)
It looks like[0] as of the start of this year, only works made in 1927 or earlier are in the public domain. Copyright terms have regularly been extended by Congress and they are astoundingly long now.
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120330/12402418305/why-m...
Edit: I'm a bit off with my dates, as 1922 was the year after which works effectively didn't ever enter the public domain.
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