A 1928 movie featuring the first appearance of Mickey Mouse enters public domain on Jan. 1. But creative and commercial access to the character is complicated by both copyright and trademark law.

However, the laws governing the public domain can be tricky. For example: Although Mickey Mouse returned to the people in 2024, this classification only applied to his first appearance in 1928's ...

A 1928 movie featuring the first appearance of Mickey Mouse enters public domain on Jan. 1. But creative and commercial access to the character is complicated by both copyright and trademark law.

For example, the Mickey Mouse that just became public domain at the start of 2024 is known as "Steamboat Willie." This iteration of the character cannot speak, has a long tail, does not have ...

What is entering the public domain in 2025? Although this is not a full list of works, here are some of the most notable examples, according to the Center for the Study of the Public Domain at ...

Characters such as 'Popeye,' 'Buck Rogers,' and 'Tintin' are among the list of works falling into the public domain as of 2025. This as the copyright expires on works produced in 1929.

Let’s take Superman, for example, who first appeared in DC’s Action Comics #1 in 1938 and enters the public domain in 2034. Were I to make my own Superman movie in 2034, my Superman wouldn’t ...

In 2025, a mountain of work dated to between 1924 to 1929 will enter the US public domain, including some well-known and beloved songs that are still regularly performed today. Thousands of ...

B.J. Novak’s example raises questions about the potential misuse of images in the social media age, when photos can be repurposed all over the internet.

Duke University's Center for the Study of the Public Domain got to the bottom of this again, finding some of the more prominent creative works examples that will lose copyrights. Here are 23 of ...

On January 1, 2022, thousands of creative works will go into the public domain in the U.S., including famous creations like Winnie-the-Pooh, Bambi, and a trove of early sound recordings.

A.A. Milne’s children’s book and Ernest Hemingway’s novel are among the works from 1926 whose copyrights will expire Jan. 1, 2022, putting them in the public domain in 2022.