Public Domain Day! January 1st 2012
Ranked #4,686 in Holidays & Celebrations, #76,639 overall | Donates to Room to Read
Authors and artists in the Public Domain for 2012
Celebrating the books, artwork, magazines and music that becomes freely available in the public domain on New Years Day each year. Complete list of pubic domain sources for photographs and images, documents and many other resources.
Copyright restrictions on artwork, books and other publications expire several years after the life of the author. The number of years varies in counties around the world, but in the United States books are released into the public domain with a clear and easy to understand system:
The copyright expires on a book when it is "published before 1923 or published at least 95 years ago in the U.S. OR published 50 years after the author's death in some countries, 70 years after death in others."
Now if that's not clear to you, then welcome to the party! Honoring the creative works of famous authors and painters, designers and song writers who's great labor ended more than 70 years ago. Their legacy can now circulate as a cultural heritage for the benefit of society.
Countdown to Public Domain Day
Set your calendars
Wait 9 years for the party to start in the United States!
In practice, this means creative works done "for hire" with a publisher are protected for 95 years from the date of publication. However, the work of private authors enters the public domain 70 years after the author's death. This is the term of copyrights in the European Union, the only place we will hear about new public domain announcements until 2019.
Africa Asia Europe world globe
List of authors entering the public domain
2012 Honorees
Robert Baden-Powell - Boy Scouts of America Founder
Henri Bergson - Investigated the "science" of comedy
Louis Brandeis - Other People's Money
James Frazer - The Golden Bough
James Joyce - "Stream of consciousness" writing
Gaetano Mosca - "Theory of Elitism" when Italy was still a Kingdom
Rabindranath Tagore - "Gurudev" earned the 1913 Nobel Prize in Literature
Marina Tsvetaeva - Soviet poet during and after the Russian Revolution
Virginia Woolf
“A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.”
Robert Baden-Powell
(1857 - 1941) Founded the Boy Scouts of America
The Official Handbook for Boys (Boy Scouts of America)
Amazon Price: $19.78 (as of 06/04/2012)
Revised edition of the book (originally from 1911), that taught boys to be "thrifty, brave, clean and reverent".
Henri Bergson
(1859 - 1941)
Laughter : an Essay on the Meaning of the Comic
Amazon Price: (as of 06/04/2012)
This is one of the few books to look at comedy systematically
Louis Dembitz Brandeis
(1856 - 1941) Associate Supreme Court Judge and author
Other people's money: and how the bankers use it
Amazon Price: $6.99 (as of 06/04/2012)
Uniquely positioned to provide commentary on big business.
Sir James George Frazer
(1854 - 1941) The Golden Bough first published 1890
The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion: A New Abridgement from the Second and Third Editions (Oxford World's Classics)
Amazon Price: $10.19 (as of 06/04/2012)
Unexpurgated edition from 1922 prepared by the author (born on January 1st) and his wife with never before published, controversial passages.
Natural science and alchemical arts
Symbolic alchemy and Hermetic drawings
Ancient manuscripts and paintings with symbolic drawings and diagrams are filled with mystery and intrigue which captured the interest of the public recently...
Google logo for 18 January 2012
Redacted (click to take action)
Your action stopped this bill in Congress. Politicians were forced to "postpone the vote indefinitely" on proposed legislation to control free information on the internet. Read about the 24-hour Wikipedia Blackout on January 18th, 2012.
James Joyce
(1882 - 1941) Joyce's books are royalty-free in the EU
Actually, Dubliners and Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man have been in the public domain in the United States for a long time. The interesting story is that of his grandson, Stephen Joyce, who now serves as the poster child in favor of limiting copyright restrictions because of his unseemly conduct in court trying to extend the copyright of his ancestor.
Dubliners
Amazon Price: $2.55 (as of 06/04/2012)
If you are daunted by the size of Ulysses, then this book of short stories may be more appealing.
Putting copyright law to the test
- BBC News - James Joyce children's book sparks feud
A children's story by James Joyce is published for the first time in Dublin to the dismay of the Zurich James Joyce Foundation.
Public Domain opinion poll
Please let us know your point of view
Gaetano Mosca
(1858 - 1941)
A short history of political philosophy
Amazon Price: $5.64 (as of 06/04/2012)
Rabindranath Tagore
(1861 - 1941)
Marina Ivanovna Tsvetaeva
(1892 - 1941)
Letters: Summer 1926 (New York Review Books Classics)
Amazon Price: $9.70 (as of 06/04/2012)
Adeline Virginia Woolf
(1882 - 1941)
Mrs. Dalloway / A Room of One's Own
Amazon Price: $12.44 (as of 06/04/2012)
2 of her most popular novels together in 1 volume
Why is Wikipedia blacked-out?
Protest SOPA and PIPA - 18 January 2012
Wikipedia is protesting against SOPA and PIPA by blacking out the English Wikipedia for 24 hours, beginning at midnight January 18, Eastern Time. Readers who come to English Wikipedia during the blackout will not be able to read the encyclopedia. Instead, you will see messages intended to raise awareness about SOPA and PIPA, encouraging you to share your views with your representatives, and with each other on social media. Read more...
Official websites and news
Today (January 16), the Wikipedia community announced its decision to black out the English-language Wikipedia for 24 hours, worldwide, beginning at 05:00 UTC on Wednesday, January 18 (Midnight, Eastern Time). The blackout is a protest against proposed legislation in the United States-the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the U.S. House of Representatives, and the PROTECTIP Act (PIPA) in the U.S. Senate-that, if passed, would seriously damage the free and open Internet, including Wikipedia.
We think everyone should have access to educational material on a wide range of subjects, even if they can't pay for it. We believe in a free and open Internet where information can be shared without impediment. We believe that new proposed laws like SOPA-and PIPA, and other similar laws under discussion inside and outside the United States-don't advance the interests of the general public.
You can read a very good list of reasons to oppose SOPA and PIPA, from the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
- English Wikipedia anti-SOPA blackout - Wikimedia Foundation
- Wikipedia blackout 05:00 UTC on Wednesday, January 18
- Authors entering the Public Domain in 2012
- Public Domain Day - 1 January 2012
- Public Domain Day organization
- To celebrate the role of the public domain in our societies
- World Map of copyright terms
- Colored map showing the expiration dates for copyrights around the world
- Public Domain Sherpa
- Does the hard lifting for you through the decision tree to find out if a book is in the public domain
- End Piracy, Not Liberty
- Sign the petition: Millions of Americans oppose SOPA and PIPA because these bills would censor the Internet and slow economic growth in the U.S.
- Legal Guide for Bloggers | Electronic Frontier Foundation
- FAQs designed to help you understand your rights and, if necessary, defend your freedom. To be clear, this guide isn't a substitute for, nor does it constitute, legal advice.
2011 List
- Isaac Babel
- Walter Benjamin
- John Buchan
- Mikhail Bulgakov
- F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Emma Goldman
- Paul Klee
- Selma Lagerlof
- Leon Trotsky
- Vito Volterra
- Nathanael West
2010 List
- Maximilian Oskar Bircher-Benner
- Sigmund Freud
- Alphonse Maria Mucha
- Maria Waser
- William Butler Yeats
Books and authors
Comic books count as books, don't they?
Please share your experience
"Everyone has the right to participate freely in cultural life of the community, to enjoy art and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits."
-
-
GrammaLinda
May 3, 2012 @ 11:58 am | delete
- I enjoyed reading this. The copyright laws are important, and as a writer, I appreciate them. At the same time, I enjoy printing public domain materials for use at home. Blessings.
-
-
-
Tipi
Apr 15, 2012 @ 11:09 am | delete
- Only 7 years until 2019, that will be one long list!
-
-
-
RCGraphicsDesign
Mar 7, 2012 @ 10:55 am | delete
- Thanks for the great information - a lens that everyone can use.
-
-
-
favored1
Jan 23, 2012 @ 8:24 am | delete
- This is a page we all need. Thanks for doing it. Will add it to my Help Me lens.
-
-
-
WildFacesGallery
Jan 17, 2012 @ 12:48 pm | delete
- Interesting. Thanks for sharing this.
-
- Load More
by dotpattern
dotpattern: the digital museum of collecting is the best source of collecting supplies for postcards, trading cards, posters and any paper memorabilia... more »
- 60 featured lenses
- Top lens » Real Steel Robot Toys
Explore related pages
- Free public domain books, art and music 2011 Free public domain books, art and music 2011
- Free Web Graphics: Where to Get Them (Legally!) Free Web Graphics: Where to Get Them (Legally!)
- Totally Free Commercial Use Images ✔ The Ultimate Photo Resource Guide Totally Free Commercial Use Images ✔ The Ultimate Photo Resource Guide
- Finding and Using Public Domain and Royalty Free Images and Clip Art Pictures Finding and Using Public Domain and Royalty Free Images and Clip Art Pictures
- Making Ebooks Using Public Domain Content Making Ebooks Using Public Domain Content
- Public Domain Books Public Domain Books
Using copyright-free media
The Public Domain: How to Find & Use Copyright-Free Writings, Music, Art & More
Amazon Price: $14.49 (as of 06/04/2012)
Nolo has a great reputation for legal advice.
Royalty income for life
The Public Domain Publishing Bible: How to Create Royalty Income for Life, 2nd Updated Edition
Amazon Price: $14.95 (as of 06/04/2012)
Book reviews
