New Year’s Day is nearly upon us, and that means that even more titles will be entering the public domain, according to researchers with Duke University.
Thousands of copyrighted works from 1930 will go into the public domain on Jan. 1, meaning that people can freely share, adapt or remix them to their hearts’ content.
For example, Winnie the Pooh went into the public domain in 2022, leading to a horror film based on the character being released just last year.
And just last year, another popular Disney character — the iconic Mickey Mouse design from “Steamboat Willie” and “Plane Crazy” — also entered the public domain, so law firm Morgan & Morgan created their own ad using the character.
[BELOW: Morgan & Morgan takes Disney to court over rights to feature ‘Steamboat Willie’]
In addition, several more Mickey Mouse cartoons will be in the public domain, as they were first created in 1930. They are as follows:
- Fiddlin’ Around
- The Barnyard Concert
- The Cactus Kid
- The Fire Fighters
- The Shindig
- The Chain Gang
- The Gorilla Mystery
- The Picnic
- Pioneer Days
Copyrighted works go into the public domain after 95 years in the United States, so works from 1930 will be eligible for public use.
Duke Law School’s Center for the Study of the Public Domain lists out these newly eligible works as follows:
BOOKS AND PLAYS
| Title | Creator(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| As I Lay Dying | William Faulkner | |
| The Maltese Falcon | Dashiell Hammett | The full book version |
| The Murder at the Vicarage | Agatha Christie | The first novel featuring Miss Marple |
| Nancy Drew | Carolyn Keene | First four books, beginning with “The Secret of the Old Clock” |
| The Little Engine That Could | Watty Piper | The popular illustrated version, with drawings by Lois Lenski |
| Elson Basic Readers | William H. Elson | The first appearances of Dick and Jane |
| Private Lives | Noël Coward | |
| Ash Wednesday | T.S. Eliot | |
| Vile Bodies | Evelyn Waugh | |
| The 42nd Parallel | John Dos Passos | |
| Cimarron | Edna Ferber | |
| Strong Poison | Dorothy L. Sayers | |
| Angel Pavement | J.B. Priestley | |
| Last and First Men | Olaf Stapledon | |
| Civilization and Its Discontents | Sigmund Freud | In the original German, “Das Unbehagen in der Kultur” |
| The Cat Who Went to Heaven | Elizabeth Coatsworth (author) & Lynd Ward (illustrator) | |
| Swallows and Amazons | Arthur Ransome | |
| Cakes and Ale | W. Somerset Maugham | |
| The Conquest of Happiness | Bertrand Russell |
CHARACTERS, COMICS AND CARTOONS
| Character/Cartoon | Notes |
|---|---|
| Betty Boop | From Fleischer Studios’ “Dizzy Dishes” and other cartoons |
| Rover (later renamed Pluto) | From Disney’s “The Chain Gang” (as an unnamed bloodhound) and “The Picnic” (as Rover) |
| Blondie and Dagwood | From the “Blondie” comic strips by Chic Young |
| Flip the Frog | From “Fiddlesticks” and other cartoons, by Ub Iwerks after he left Disney |
| Nine Mickey Mouse cartoons | From Disney |
| The initial week of Mickey Mouse comic strips | From Disney |
| Ten Silly Symphonies cartoons | From Disney |
FILMS
| Title | Director(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| All Quiet on the Western Front | Lewis Milestone | Winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture |
| King of Jazz | John Murray Anderson | Musical revue featuring Paul Whiteman and Bing Crosby’s first feature-film appearance |
| Cimarron | Wesley Ruggles | Winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture, registered for copyright in 1930 |
| Animal Crackers | Victor Heerman | Starring the Marx Brothers |
| Soup to Nuts | Benjamin Stoloff | Written by Rube Goldberg, featuring later members of The Three Stooges |
| Morocco | Josef von Sternberg | Starring Gary Coopers, Marlene Dietrich and Adolphe Menjou |
| The Blue Angel (Der blaue Engel) | Josef von Sternberg | Starring Marlene Dietrich |
| Anna Christie | Clarence Brown | Great Garbo’s first talkie |
| Hell’s Angels | Howard Hughes | Jean Harlow’s film debut |
| The Big Trail | Raoul Walsh | John Wayne’s first leading role |
| The Big House | George Hill | |
| Murder! | Alfred Hitchcock | |
| L’Âge d’Or | Luis Buñuel | Written by Buñuel and Salvador Dali |
| Free and Easy | Edward Sedgwick | Buster Keaton’s first speaking role |
| The Divorcee | Robert Z. Leonard | |
| Whoopee! | Thornton Freeland |
MUSIC
| Title | Creator(s) |
|---|---|
| I Got Rhythm | Lyrics: Ira Gershwin Music: George Gershwin |
| I’ve Got a Crush on You | Lyrics: Ira Gershwin Music: George Gershwin |
| But Not for Me | Lyrics: Ira Gershwin Music: George Gershwin |
| Embraceable You | Lyrics: Ira Gershwin Music: George Gershwin |
| Georgia on My Mind | Lyrics: Stuart Gorrell Music: Hoagy Carmichael |
| Dream a Little Dream of Me | Lyrics: Gus Kahn Music: Fabian Andre and Wilbur Schwandt |
| Livin’ in the Sunlight, Lovin’ in the Moonlight | Lyrics: Al Lewis Music: Al Sherman |
| On the Sunny Side of the Street | Lyrics: Dorothy Fields Music: Jimmy McHugh |
| It Happened in Monterey | Lyrics: Billy Rose Music: Mabel Wayne |
| Body and Soul | Lyrics: Edward Heyman, Robert Sour and Frank Eyton Music: Johnny Green |
| Just a Gigolo | Original German Lyrics: Julius Brammer English Translation: Irving Caesar Music: Leonello Casucci |
| You’re Driving Me Crazy | Lyrics and Music: Walter Donaldson |
| Beyond the Blue Horizon | Lyrics: Leo Robin Music: Richard A. Whiting and W. Franke Harling |
| The Royal Welch Fusiliers | John Philip Sousa |