Public Domain Day

Observance of when copyrights expire and works enter into the public domain

Public Domain Day (PDD) is an observance of when copyrights expire and works enter into the public domain. In 2025, Copyrighted works from 1929 will enter the US Public Domain.

There is no explicit time when Public Domain Day began being observed (it was mentioned by Lawrence Lessig in 2004 Several activities were carried to celebrate the event, including a special section at the MIT Libraries for public domain works and the "Grand Re Opening of the Public Domain" that took place at the Internet Archive with the presence of members of Creative Commons, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Wikimedia Foundation, among other scholars like Pam Samuelson, Lawrence Lessig and James Boyle.

In 2022 in the United States, in addition to works published in 1926 that had had their copyright renewed, about 400,000 sound recordings from before 1923 also passed into the public domain under the CLASSICS Act.

On 2024's Public Domain Day, all published works from 1928 entered the public domain. This included the animated short film Steamboat Willie, featuring Mickey Mouse, a subject of significant copyright interest. The inclusion of this work was a landmark event, ending years of controversies, although Disney might still claim trademark rights on Mickey Mouse. Additionally, all sound recordings from 1923 entered into the public domain. No sound recordings had entered the public domain in 2023, as all pre 1923 recordings already entered into the public domain in 2022. However, recordings from 1923–1946 enter the public domain on January 1 of the year after their 100th year after publication. Thus, a recording published in June 1923, for example, would have entered the public domain on January 1, 2024.