January 1 in the USA will see the first release of works into the public domain in TWENTY YEARS!

[thewayne]

Thank you, Disney and The Mouse. [/sarcasm]

Yes, thanks to Disney and Cher's ex-husband slamming into a tree while skiing, copyright got extended and for 20 years, in the USA, nothing was released into the public domain to protect Steamboat Willy. Well, this year that changes. Doesn't mean that Disney won't be gearing up for other changes and exclusions, but at least for now we'll be getting something.

Among new (almost century old) material getting released:
--Poems of Robert Frost
--Plays of Oscar Wilde
--Writings of Winston Churchill
--Cecil B. DeMille’s original The Ten Commandments
and lots of other stuff

A lot of this was already available on sites like Project Gutenberg in Canada and Australia, just not here.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/first-time-20-years-copyrighted-works-enter-public-domain-180971016/

Comments

[seasonoftowers]

Finally. It'd be less of a bother to just cut off an exemption for The Mouse...

[silveradept]

Oh, finally. Although there's still time for the lame ducks to screw us all again and keep everything out of the public domain.

[thewayne]

I think Congress is about to go home: Ryan just gave his farewell address, and I don't think they have such a piece of legislation in the queue, so hopefully it won't happen.  And at least for the next two years - theoretically! - the Dems in the House won't let it pass.  After that, it's anyone's guess.