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Archive for the Guest Post Category (377 posts)

Published Works Enter the Public Domain in the United States for First Time in Twenty Years

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The following is a repost from the Copyright Office blog, Creativity at Work. This is a guest post by Anandashankar Mazumdar, outreach and education specialist in the Office of Public Information and Education.

New Year’s Day 2019 was a landmark for American copyright law. For the first time in twenty years, published works of expression—including books, music, and films—started moving out of copyright protection and into the public domain.

Edgar Rice Burroughs' "Tarzan and the Golden Lion" entered the public domain in the United States January 1, 2019.

Edgar Rice Burroughs’ “Tarzan and the Golden Lion” is now in the public domain in the United States.

U.S. copyright law gives creators several exclusive rights over their creative and original works. These include, for example, the right to control copying and distribution of protected works, subject to certain exceptions and limitations. But, eventually, protections end. The copyright term determines when a work falls out of copyright protection and becomes a public domain work.

Every country decides for itself when a work protected under its law enters the public domain in that country, subject to international treaties. Public domain works are free for anyone to copy, excerpt, rework, and adapt without anyone’s permission. A federal law enacted in 1998 extended the term of U.S. copyright protection to all works. As a result, pre-1998 works that would have become part of the public domain in 1999 had their protection extended in the United States.

Cecil B. DeMille's "The Ten Commandments" entered the public domain in the United States January 1, 2019.

Cecil B. DeMille’s “The Ten Commandments” is now in the public domain in the United States.

Works from 1923 entering the public domain in January in the United States include Kahlil Gibran’s “The Prophet,” a Tarzan story by Edgar Rice Burroughs, several stories by comedic writer P.G. Wodehouse, and a Sherlock Holmes story by Arthur Conan Doyle. A Rin Tin Tin film, Cecil B. DeMille’s black-and-white Ten Commandments, films featuring Oliver Hardy and Stan Laurel, and D.W. Griffith’s “The White Rose” are also among 2019’s public domain class.

This commences a new phase of U.S. copyright law, and from now on, works will be entering the public domain on a yearly basis.

Other authors included in this year’s class of public domain works include: Joseph Conrad, F. Scott Fitzgerald, E.M. Forster, Carl Sandburg, Virginia Woolf, William Butler Yeats, Hugh Walpole, Nikolay Gogol, Maxim Gorky, Zane Grey, H. Rider Haggard, Aldous Huxley, Rudyard Kipling, Ring Lardner, D.H. Lawrence, Sinclair Lewis, Willa Cather, G.K. Chesterton, Anton Chekhov, Agatha Christie, Jean Cocteau, Sherwood Anderson, and H.L. Mencken.

D.W. Griffith's "The White Rose" entered the public domain in the United States January 1, 2019

D.W. Griffith’s “The White Rose” is now in the public domain in the United States.

This represents a completion of the cycle of copyright protection for many works. The U.S. Constitution authorized Congress to establish copyright laws that would result in the enrichment of the populace as a whole. Authors are rewarded for their creation, the public gets to enjoy those works, and eventually those works enter the public domain.

Kahil Gibran's "The Prophet" entered the public domain in the United States on January 1, 2019.

Kahlil Gibran’s “The Prophet” is now in the public domain in the United States.

Copyright protection is one side of the coin of incentivizing new creations—authors are empowered to seek benefit from limited control over their works. The other side of the coin represents when copyright protection ends, and new authors can build on what went before.

For example, in 1948 composer Cole Porter produced the stage musical “Kiss Me, Kate,” based on Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew.” In 1999, Gil Junger and Touchstone Pictures produced the film “10 Things I Hate About You” with Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger, another reworking of Shakespeare’s romantic comedy. Even though the concept of copyright law and the public domain didn’t exist in Shakespeare’s time, he applied what we now know as public domain principles by taking existing stories and reworking them to produce his own works.

The Copyright Office will celebrate the public domain with a Copyright Matters event on January 16. A choir will perform selections from public domain musical works and speakers will discuss the significance of the public domain concept to copyright law and the culture.

The Public Domain: Celebrating the Lifecycle of Copyright is part of the U.S. Copyright Office’s Copyright Matters Lecture Series, which focuses on the practical implications of copyright law in the twenty-first century, provides education and training to the staff of the Copyright Office, and offers training to the public. The Copyright Office began this series in 2012, and the most recent Copyright Matters event, in October, focused on the intersection of copyright law and the news.

On the Shelf – Finnish Forest and Forestry Laws

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The following is a guest post by Elin Hofverberg, a foreign law expert at the Law Library of Congress. Elin has written posts for In Custodia Legis on an extensive array of legal topics, including Swedish Law – Global Legal Collection Highlights, FALQs: The Swedish Budget Process, 60 Years of Lego Building Blocks and Danish Patent Law, Finland: 100 Years of Independence – […]

Centennial of the Danish – Icelandic Union Act of 1918

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The following is a guest post by Elin Hofverberg, an expert for the Nordic countries. Elin has blogged on an extensive array of legal topics, including The Making of a Legal Cinnamon Bun; Swedish Law – Global Legal Collection Highlights; 60 Years of Lego Building Blocks and Danish Patent Law; Finland: 100 Years of Independence – Global Legal Collection […]

FALQ’s: The Legalization of Cannabis in Canada

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The following is a guest post by Sarah Ettedgui, from Montreal, Quebec, Canada, who worked as foreign law intern this past summer with foreign law specialist Nicolas Boring at the Global Legal Research Directorate, Law Library of Congress. On Wednesday, October 17, 2018, Canada’s first legal marijuana dispensaries opened their doors and marijuana enthusiasts all over the country endured long lines […]

The Cité Judiciaire (“Judicial City”) of Luxembourg – Pic of the Week

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The following is a guest post from Nicolas Boring, foreign law specialist covering French speaking jurisdictions at the Law Library of Congress. A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to spend a few days in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg for a conference. During a walking tour of the old city, I was able to see […]

Bosnia and Herzegovina – When the Constitution, Laws, and Political Participation of Minorities Clash

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The following is a guest post by Mirela Savic-Fleming, Special Assistant to the Law Librarian of Congress. Several days ago, in the middle of a conversation about our everyday lives and the upcoming midterm elections, a friend of mine looked at me, and asked out of the blue, “Do you know that there is a […]

Concubinage and the Law in France

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The following is a guest post by Sarah Ettedgui, a foreign law intern who worked with foreign law specialist Nicolas Boring at the Global Legal Research Directorate, Law Library of Congress during the summer. If there is one area of the law in which moral and religious ideologies have exercised a profound influence, it is that of relationships between the […]

Engagement under Japanese Law and Imperial House Rules

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The following is a guest post by Sayuri Umeda, a foreign law specialist who covers Japan and various other countries in East and Southeast Asia. Sayuri has previously written posts for In Custodia Legis on various topics, including Is the Sound of Children Actually Noise?, How to Boost your Medal Count in the Olympics, South Korean-Style, Two Koreas Separated by Demilitarized Zone, English Translations of Post-World War […]

The Law Library of Congress at the Annual Meeting of the American Association of Law Libraries

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The following is a guest post by Elizabeth Osborne.  Beth most recently wrote about the retirement of Supreme Court Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy. Librarians at the Law Library recently returned from the 2018 American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) Annual Conference in Baltimore, Maryland.  The conference is an opportunity for legal information professionals to share knowledge and connect with colleagues from across […]