{"id":470,"date":"2025-01-06T11:54:42","date_gmt":"2025-01-06T10:54:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/?p=470"},"modified":"2025-07-01T09:55:24","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T08:55:24","slug":"public-domain-day-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/2025\/01\/public-domain-day-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Public Domain Day 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Every year, on the 1<sup>st<\/sup> of January, new material enters the public domain, making the works free to use, share and reuse. Due to differing copyright durations in each country, there is no single public domain \u2013 sometimes a work can be in public domain in one country while still being protected by copyright in another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This year, we will have works entering the public domain from:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>People who died in <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/2025_in_public_domain#Countries_with_life_+_70_years\">1954<\/a>, for countries with a copyright protection term of lifetime of the creator + 70 years (UK, Russia, most of the EU)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>People who died in <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/2025_in_public_domain#Countries_with_life_+_50_years\">1974<\/a>, for countries with a copyright protection of lifetime of the creator + 50 years (New Zealand, most of Africa and Asia)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/1929_in_film\">Films<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/1929_in_literature#New_books\">books<\/a> as well as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fastcompany.com\/91241496\/public-domain-2025-henri-matisse-frida-kahlo\">artworks<\/a> published in 1929 in the United States.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/12\/Picture1.png\" rel=\"lightbox[470]\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/12\/Picture1-1024x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-471\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/12\/Picture1-1024x1024.png 1024w, https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/12\/Picture1-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/12\/Picture1-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/12\/Picture1-768x768.png 768w, https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/12\/Picture1-144x144.png 144w, https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/12\/Picture1.png 1379w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Before we dive into the artists and works which have entered the public domain, lets have a look at what the public domain is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The public domain is a term used to describe works for which copyright protection has expired or where the creator has decided to relinquish copyright protection. In the UK, the standard term for copyright protection is lifetime of the creator plus 70 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/12\/Picture2.png\" rel=\"lightbox[470]\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"940\" height=\"744\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/12\/Picture2.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-472\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/12\/Picture2.png 940w, https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/12\/Picture2-300x237.png 300w, https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/12\/Picture2-768x608.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 940px) 100vw, 940px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>It is important to highlight here that new publications of public domain materials, will receive new copyright protection. As such, if you want to use material which is in the public domain, you have to be careful to use the material to which the copyright has expired and not any recent publications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As an example, Mickey Mouse\u2019s first depiction in \u201cSteamboat Willie\u201d has entered the public domain in 2024, however, newer representations of Mickey and Minnie are still protected. Be aware that some cartoon characters are also protected as trademarks, which does not expire. Currently, Disney has over 500 trademarks at EU level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s have a look at some names and works that have entered the public domain this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/12\/Picture3.png\" rel=\"lightbox[470]\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"597\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/12\/Picture3-1024x597.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-473\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/12\/Picture3-1024x597.png 1024w, https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/12\/Picture3-300x175.png 300w, https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/12\/Picture3-768x448.png 768w, https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/12\/Picture3-1536x896.png 1536w, https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/12\/Picture3.png 1980w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/12\/Picture5.png\" rel=\"lightbox[470]\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"597\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/12\/Picture5-1024x597.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-474\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/12\/Picture5-1024x597.png 1024w, https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/12\/Picture5-300x175.png 300w, https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/12\/Picture5-768x448.png 768w, https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/12\/Picture5-1536x896.png 1536w, https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/12\/Picture5.png 1981w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/12\/Picture6.png\" rel=\"lightbox[470]\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"597\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/12\/Picture6-1024x597.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-475\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/12\/Picture6-1024x597.png 1024w, https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/12\/Picture6-300x175.png 300w, https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/12\/Picture6-768x448.png 768w, https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/12\/Picture6-1536x895.png 1536w, https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/12\/Picture6.png 1982w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/12\/Picture7.png\" rel=\"lightbox[470]\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"597\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/12\/Picture7-1024x597.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-476\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/12\/Picture7-1024x597.png 1024w, https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/12\/Picture7-300x175.png 300w, https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/12\/Picture7-768x448.png 768w, https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/12\/Picture7-1536x895.png 1536w, https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/12\/Picture7.png 1982w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/12\/Picture8.png\" rel=\"lightbox[470]\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"597\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/12\/Picture8-1024x597.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-477\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/12\/Picture8-1024x597.png 1024w, https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/12\/Picture8-300x175.png 300w, https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/12\/Picture8-768x448.png 768w, https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/12\/Picture8-1536x896.png 1536w, https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/12\/Picture8.png 1981w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/12\/Picture9.png\" rel=\"lightbox[470]\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"597\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/12\/Picture9-1024x597.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-478\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/12\/Picture9-1024x597.png 1024w, https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/12\/Picture9-300x175.png 300w, https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/12\/Picture9-768x448.png 768w, https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/12\/Picture9-1536x895.png 1536w, https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2024\/12\/Picture9.png 1982w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>And many, many more works. We also have some more Mickey and Minnie Mouse versions entering the public domain, as well as Popeye and Tintin, the 1929 versions of these characters to be precise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you would like to read more about the public domain, Duke University Law School, explains it very well in their blog post <a href=\"https:\/\/web.law.duke.edu\/cspd\/publicdomainday\/2025\/\">Public Domain Day 2025<\/a>. The blog post is mainly about material becoming available in the US.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>More about the beauty of the public domain can be found on <a href=\"https:\/\/publicdomainreview.org\/essays\/\">The Public Domain Review webpage<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The information contained in this blog post should be taken as recommended advice or guidance but should not be taken as legal advice.\u00a0 If in any doubt please seek proper legal advice.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Every year, on the 1st of January, new material enters the public domain, making the works free to use, share and reuse. Due to differing copyright durations in each country, there is no single public domain \u2013 sometimes a work can be in public domain in one country while still being protected by copyright in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":756,"featured_media":480,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"lboro_blog_alternative_thumbnail_image":"481","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[83,11],"tags":[85,113],"class_list":["post-470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-copyright","category-training","tag-copyright","tag-public-domain-day"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/756"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=470"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470\/revisions\/777"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/rdm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}