Overview
- U.S. copyrights expired at midnight for thousands of 1930 publications, including the earliest Betty Boop in Dizzy Dishes, Disney’s Pluto when called Rover, Chic Young’s early Blondie strips, the first four Nancy Drew novels, William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, and Dashiell Hammett’s full The Maltese Falcon.
- Films now open for reuse include All Quiet on the Western Front, Animal Crackers, Cimarron, The Blue Angel, King of Jazz, Greta Garbo’s first talkie Anna Christie, and other pre–Hays Code titles, alongside notable artworks such as Piet Mondrian’s Composition with Red, Blue and Yellow.
- Music entering the public domain features standards like I Got Rhythm, But Not for Me, Georgia on My Mind, and Dream a Little Dream of Me, while 1925 sound recordings also become free to use, including performances by Marian Anderson, Bessie Smith with Louis Armstrong, and the Knickerbockers’ Manhattan.
- Trademark rights and later copyrighted iterations still apply, meaning modern versions and merchandising of characters such as Betty Boop remain restricted even as their earliest appearances become freely usable.
- Duke University’s Center for the Study of the Public Domain, led by Jennifer Jenkins, compiled the 2026 list after extensive archival research, with experts highlighting new possibilities for adaptation, cheaper editions, classroom use, digitization, and reported projects already in development.