Copyright for Students: Copyright Term & Public Domain

Works going into the public domain are the specific works from 1929 as are sound recordings from 1924. This does not include the later books, movies, or translations based on the original books, or all of the other work by that author. For example, while you are free to use 

Here are just a few of the books that are now freely usable:

• William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury
• Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms
• Dashiell Hammett, Red Harvest
• John Steinbeck, Cup of Gold
• Arthur Wesley Wheen, the first English translation of All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque.
• Agatha Christie, Seven Dials Mystery
• Ellery Queen (Frederic Dannay and Manfred Bennington Lee), The Roman Hat Mystery

Public Domain Day 2024 by Jennifer Jenkins and James Boyle, Directors of Duke Law School’s Center for the Study of the Public Domain, is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

In 2022, under a new law called the Music Modernization Act, decades of sound recordings made from the advent of recording technology through the end of 1922 went into the public domain. In 2023 there was a pause, with no sound recordings entering the public domain. Beginning 2024, recordings from 1924 are open for legal reuse. You can download, remix, or use them in a soundtrack. Please note that only the 1924 recordings made by these artists are entering the public domain, not their later recordings.

To listen to old recordings, go to the Library of Congress National Jukebox—in 2025 the Library of Congress will make all of the 1924 recordings in its collection available for download from this site, while recordings from 1925 forward will be streaming-only until they are in the public domain.

• Rhapsody in Blues, recorded by George Gershwin
• Shreveport Stomp, recorded by Jelly Roll Morton
• Lazy, recorded by The Georgians
• Krooked Blues, recorded by King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band featuring Louis Armstrong
• It Had To Be You, recorded by the Isham Jones Orchestra and by Marion Harris
• California Here I Come, recorded by Al Jolson

Public Domain Day 2025 by Jennifer Jenkins and James Boyle, Directors of Duke Law School’s Center for the Study of the Public Domain, is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Only the musical compositions—the music and lyrics that you might see on a piece of sheet music—are entering the public domain, not the recordings of those songs, which are covered by a separate copyright. The lyrics and music to  Tiptoe Through the Tulips were published in 1929 and will be free for anyone to copy, perform, record, adapt, or interpolate into their own song. But the 1968 rcording by Tiny Tim is still copyrighted. Note, however, that sound recording rights are more limited than composition rights—you can legally imitate a sound recording, even if your imitation sounds exactly the same, you just cannot copy from the actual recording. To hear some great adaptations of public domain songs and other material, visit WNYC’s Public Domain Song Project.

• Singin' in the Rain, lyrics by Arthur Freed, music by Nacio Herb Brown
• Ain't Misbehavin', lyrics by Andy Paul Razaf, music by Thomas W. ("Fats") Waller & Harry Brooks (from the musical Hot Chocolates)
• An American in Paris, George Gershwin
• Boléro, Maurice Ravel
• (What Did I Do to Be So) Black and Blue, lyrics by Andy Paul Razaf, music y Thomas w. "Fats" Waller & Harry Brooks (a song about racial injustice from the musical Hot Chocolates)
• Tiptoe Through the Tulips, lyrics by Alfred Dubin, music by Joseph Burke
• Happy Days Are Here Again, lyrics by Jack Yellen, music by Milton Ager (the theme song of Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1932 presidential campaign)
• What Is This Thing Called Love? by Cole Porter (from Porter's musical Wake up and Dream)
• Am I Blue, lyrics by Grant Clarke, music by Harry Akst
• You Were Meant for Me, lyrics by Arthur Freed, music by Nacio Her Brown

Public Domain Day 2025 by Jennifer Jenkins and James Boyle, Directors of Duke Law School’s Center for the Study of the Public Domain, is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

2025 welcomes a dozen new Mickey Mouse films from 1929. Mickey speaks his first words -- "Hot dogs! Hot dogs!" -- and debuts his familiar whit gloves. 1929 marked a turning point in film, with sound films rapidly replacing silent cinema. Alfred Hitchcock, Cecil B. DeMille, John Ford, Harold Lloyd, and Clara Bow all released their first sound films, while Buster Keaton starred in his final silent feature. Please note that while the original footage from the listed films will be in the public domain, newly added material such as musical accompaniment might still be copyrighted.

• The Cocoanuts, directed by Robert Florey and Joseph Santley (the first Marx Brothers feature film)
• The Broadway Melody, directed by Harry Beaumont (winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture)
• The Hollywood Revue of 1929, directed by Charles Reisner (featuring the song "Singin' in the Rain")
• The Skeleton Dance, directed by Walt Disney and animated by Ub Iwerks (the first Silly Symphony short from Disney)
• Blackmail, directed by Alfred Hitchcock (Hitchcock's first sound film)
• Hallelujah, directed by King Vidor (one of the first films from a major studio with an all African-American cast)
• The Wild Party, directed by Dorothy Arzner (Clara Bow's first "talkie")
• On With the Show, directed by Alan Crosland (the first all-talking, all-color, feature-length film)
• Show Boat, directed by Harry A. Pollard (adaptation of the novel and musical)
• The Black Watch, directed by John Ford (Ford's first sound film)
• Spite Marriage, directed by Edward Sedgwick and Buster Keaton (Keaton's final silent feature)
• Dynamite, directed by Cecil B. DeMille (DeMille's first sound film)

Public Domain Day 2025 by Jennifer Jenkins and James Boyle , Directors of Duke Law School’s Center for the Study of the Public Domain, is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.