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2029 in public domain

When a work's copyright expires, it enters the public domain. Since laws vary globally, the copyright status of some works is not uniform. The following lists include creators whose works entered the public domain in 2029 under the most common copyright regimes.


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When a work's copyright expires, it enters the public domain. Since laws vary globally, the copyright status of some works is not uniform. The following lists include creators whose works entered the public domain in 2029 under the most common copyright regimes.

Except for Belarus (Life + 50 years) and Spain (which has a copyright term of Life + 80 years for creators that died before 1988), a work enters the public domain in Europe 70 years after the creator's death, if it was published during the creator's lifetime. In addition, several other countries have a limit of 70 years. The list is sorted alphabetically and includes a notable work of the creator.

In Bangladesh, India, and Venezuela a work enters the public domain 60 years after the creator's death.

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This section needs expansion. You can help by adding missing information. (January 2025)

In most countries of Africa and Asia, as well as Belarus, Bolivia, New Zealand, and Egypt, a work enters the public domain 50 years after the creator's death.

NamesCountryDeathOccupationNotable work
Leigh BrackettUnited States24 March 1978Writer, screenwriterShadow Over Mars
Edmund CrispinUnited Kingdom15 September 1978Writer, composerGervase Fen stories
Pope John Paul IItaly Vatican City28 September 1978PopeIllustrissimi
Jane LaneUnited Kingdom6 January 1978WriterHe Stooped to Conquer
Amelia Reynolds LongUnited States26 March 1978WriterBehind the Evidence
Margaret MeadUnited States15 November 1978AnthropologistComing of Age in Samoa
William MiddletonUnited Kingdom12 August 1978IllustratorThe Railway Series
Hope MirrleesUnited Kingdom1 August 1978WriterLud-in-the-Mist
Ward MooreUnited States29 January 1978WriterBring the Jubilee
Carola OmanUnited Kingdom11 June 1978WriterThe Road Royal
Pak Mok-wolSouth Korea24 March 1978Poet
Helmy RaflaEgypt22 April 1978DirectorSelected filmography
Juancho Polo ValenciaColombia22 July 1978Songwriter"Alicia Adorada"
Eric Frank RussellUnited Kingdom28 February 1978Writer"Allamagoosa"
Jack L. WarnerUnited States9 September 1978Filmmaker
Armin T. WegnerGermany17 May 1978Writer, human rights activistFive Fingers Over You
Guo MoruoChina12 June 1978Author, poet, historian, archaeologistWorks

Spain has a copyright term of life + 80 years for creators that died before 1988. In Colombia and Equatorial Guinea, a work enters the public domain 80 years after the creator's death.

The trailer is from an unknown year and is for a re-issue of King Kong. The story and characters were in the public domain even before the film's release due to classification errors on certain preemptive tie-in material; the film as a complete product will enter the public domain in 2029.

Under the Copyright Term Extension Act, books published in 1933, films released in 1933, and other works published in 1933, will enter the public domain in 2029. Sound recordings published in 1928 and unpublished works whose authors died in 1958 will also enter the public domain.

Notable films entering the public domain in 2029 include the original King Kong and its sequel Son of Kong, Lloyd Bacon's musical films 42nd Street and Footlight Parade, Fritz Lang's The Testament of Dr. Mabuse, Universal Monsters film The Invisible Man with Claude Rains, Best Picture Academy Award-winner Cavalcade, Alfred E. Green's Baby Face with Barbara Stanwyck and George Brent, George Cukor's adaptation of Little Women with Katharine Hepburn, the Marx Brothers musical comedy Duck Soup, Ecstasy with Hedy Lamarr in her acting debut, the John Ford films Doctor Bull and Pilgrimage, Mervyn LeRoy's Tugboat Annie and Gold Diggers of 1933 (the latter of which he co-directed with Busby Berkeley), the Mae West films She Done Him Wrong and I'm No Angel, Frank Tuttle's Roman Scandals, Alexander Korda's The Private Life of Henry VIII (the first British film to win an Oscar), Lowell Sherman's Morning Glory with Hepburn and Douglas Fairbanks Jr., the original State Fair (which inspired the more famous 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical film), William J. Cowen's adaptation of Oliver Twist, Cukor's Dinner at Eight, Frank Capra's Lady for a Day and The Bitter Tea of General Yen, Raoul Walsh's Going Hollywood with Marion Davies and Bing Crosby, Victor and Victoria which was later remade into the 1982 film starring Julie Andrews, Jean Vigo's Zero for Conduct, Walt Disney's Silly Symphony cartoon Three Little Pigs, the first full year of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies short films that had their copyrights renewed, and the first six animated Popeye cartoons produced at Fleischer Studios. The first comic strips from King Features Syndicate that had their copyrights renewed when King Features Illustrated Weekly started from May 4, 1933 and the rest from that year will also enter the public domain in 2029. The radio character The Lone Ranger is already in the public domain as the copyrights for the scripts of the show weren’t renewed.

Literary works entering the public domain include H. G. Wells's sci-fi novel The Shape of Things to Come, James Hilton's novel Lost Horizon introducing Shangri-La, Dashiell Hammett's novel The Thin Man introducing Nick and Nora Charles, George Orwell's first novel Down and Out in Paris and London, Virginia Woolf's novel Flush: A Biography, Ernest Hemingway's short story collection Winner Take Nothing, Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot mystery novel Lord Edgware Dies and her short story collection The Hound of Death and Other Stories, C. S. Lewis's debut novel The Pilgrim's Regress, Erle Stanley Gardner's detective novel The Case of the Velvet Claws introducing Perry Mason, Raymond Chandler's short story Blackmailers Don't Shoot, John Steinbeck's novel To a God Unknown, Hardy Boys novel Footprints Under the Window, Nancy Drew novels The Sign of the Twisted Candles and The Password to Larkspur Lane, Federico García Lorca's play Blood Wedding in its original Spanish, Osip Mandelstam's Stalin Epigram in its original Russian, and the first editions of Newsweek and Indonesian Avant Garde magazine Poedjangga Baroe.

Artworks entering the public domain include Diego Rivera's destroyed mural Man at the Crossroads and his Detroit Industry Murals, René Magritte's painting The Human Condition, Frida Kahlo's painting My Dress Hangs There, Henri Cartier-Bresson's photograph Seville, Spain, and the first design of Alvar Aalto's Model 60 stacking stool.

Among the better-known songs entering the public domain are "We're in the Money", "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes", "I've Got the World on a String" and two of the songs from 42nd Street: the title song and "Shuffle Off to Buffalo". Additionally, the entry of Three Little Pigs will bring along the song "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?", the first hit song from Disney's studio and an anthem of the Great Depression, while that of the first Popeye cartoons will bring with it "I'm Popeye the Sailor Man", the character's official theme song.

  • List of American films of 1933

  • 1933 in literature

  • 1933 in music

  • 1958 in literature and 1978 in literature for deaths of writers

  • Public Domain Day

  • Creative Commons

  • 2030 in public domain

  • @media screen{html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .sister-inline-image img[src*="Wiktionary-logo-en-v2.svg"]{filter:invert(1)brightness(55%)contrast(250%)hue-rotate(180deg)}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .sister-inline-image img[src*="Wiktionary-logo-en-v2.svg"]{filter:invert(1)brightness(55%)contrast(250%)hue-rotate(180deg)}} Media related to Undelete in 2029 at Wikimedia Commons

  • "Authors by Year of Death – 1958". AuthorAndBookInfo.com.

  • Popular Books of 1933 at Goodreads

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