Public Domain Day
Next: January 1, 2027
New year, newly free stories.
The story
Where it comes from
Copyright does not last for ever. In most countries it runs to the end of a calendar year, so every 1 January a fresh batch of books, films, music and art passes into the public domain, free for anyone to read, share, perform and adapt. Public Domain Day grew up informally among campaigners and librarians who wanted to celebrate that moment. In 2010 COMMUNIA, a European network studying the digital public domain, launched a Public Domain Day website and a Public Domain Manifesto to help spread the idea.
How it's celebrated
Libraries, archives, universities and online collections publish lists of the authors and works that have just become free, and readers go looking for old favourites to download or reuse. In the United States, the Center for the Study of the Public Domain at Duke University publishes a list each year. Anyone can join in by reading a newly freed book, staging a play or turning an old song into something new.
Did you know
- In the United States, works published before 1978 are protected for 95 years, so they enter the public domain on 1 January after their 95th year.
- Many countries, including the United Kingdom, Russia and most of the European Union, protect a work for the author's lifetime plus 70 years.
- Because terms differ from country to country, the same book can be free to share in one country and still under copyright in another.
Coming up next
- Isaac Asimov's Birthday · January 2, 2027
- Tolkien Birthday Toast · January 3, 2027
- World Braille Day · January 4, 2027
- Hayao Miyazaki's Birthday · January 5, 2027
- Epiphany (Three Kings' Day) · January 6, 2027
- Orthodox Christmas · January 7, 2027