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2026 in public domain
Overview of works entering public domain From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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When a work's copyright expires, it enters the public domain. The following is a list of creators whose works enter the public domain in 2026. Since laws vary globally, the copyright status of some works are not uniform.
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Entering the public domain in countries with life + 70 years
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With the exception of Belarus (Life + 50 years) and Spain (which has a copyright term of Life + 80 years for creators that died before 1987), a work enters the public domain in Europe 70 years after the creator's death, if it was published during the creator's lifetime. For previously unpublished material, those who publish it first will have the publication rights for 25 years. 2026 marks the first year since 2006 that works will enter the public domain in Australia, which changed its copyright term length from a "plus 50" law to a "plus 70" law in 2004.[1] The list is sorted alphabetically and includes a notable work of the creator that entered the public domain on 1 January 2026.
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Entering the public domain in countries with life + 80 years
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Spain has a copyright term of life + 80 years for creators that died before 1987. In Colombia and Equatorial Guinea, a work enters the public domain 80 years after the creator's death. The list is sorted alphabetically and includes a notable work of the creator that entered the public domain on 1 January 2026.
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Entering the public domain in countries with life + 60 years
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In Bangladesh, India, and Venezuela a work enters the public domain 60 years after the creator's death.
Entering the public domain in countries with life + 50 years
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In most countries of Africa and Asia, as well as Belarus, Bolivia, New Zealand, Egypt and Uruguay; a work enters the public domain 50 years after the creator's death.
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Canada
In 2022 copyright in Canada changed from a "plus 50" law to a "plus 70" law, in line with the United States and the European Union. But the change was not made retroactive (unlike the 1995 change in the European Union which brought some (British and possibly other) authors back into copyright, especially those who died from 1925 to 1944).[3][4] No more new Canadian authors will come out of copyright until 1 January 2043 (those who died in 1972). Crown copyright was not changed, thus any government works published in 1974 entered the public domain in 2025.[5]
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United States
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Under the Copyright Term Extension Act, books published in 1930, films released in 1930, and other works published in 1930, will enter the public domain in 2026.[6][7] Sound recordings that were published in 1925 and unpublished works whose authors died in 1955 will also enter the public domain.[6]
Among the literary works that will enter public domain in 2026 are Dashiell Hammett's detective novel The Maltese Falcon, Agatha Christie's detective novel The Murder at the Vicarage introducing Miss Marple, William Faulkner's novel As I Lay Dying, H. Rider Haggard's final work Belshazzar, Noël Coward's play Private Lives, Marc Connelly's play The Green Pastures, Milt Gross's graphic novel He Done Her Wrong, Bertold Brecht's play The Decision in its original German, Herge's first Tintin comic album Tintin in the Land of the Soviets in its original French as well as the first serialized versions of the controversial second story Tintin in the Congo, the first English translation of Franz Kafka's The Castle, the first Elson-Gray Readers books featuring Dick and Jane by William S. Gray, the first English translation of Hermann Sudermann's The Excursion to Tilsit, and "Carolyn Keene"'s first Nancy Drew mystery stories, including The Secret of the Old Clock which marked the character's debut.
Significant films entering the public domain in 2026 include Best Picture Academy Award winner All Quiet on the Western Front, Greta Garbo's first sound film Anna Christie, Bing Crosby's film debut King of Jazz, Jean Harlow's film debut Hell's Angels, John Wayne's film debut in The Big Trail, Animal Crackers starring the Marx Brothers, Soup to Nuts featuring an early iteration of The Three Stooges, George Cukor's directorial debut Grumpy, Josef von Sternberg's The Blue Angel and Morocco, both starring Marlene Dietrich (the first of eight films they made together), The Unholy Three, starring Lon Chaney in his only speaking role, the Alfred Hitchcock films Juno and the Paycock and Murder!, F.W. Murnau's City Girl, the John Ford films Men Without Women, Born Reckless, Seas Beneath and Up the River, G.W. Pabst's Westfront 1918, Robert Siodmak's directorial debut People on Sunday, Jean Vigo's directorial debut À propos de Nice, Luis Buñuel's The Golden Age, the first Italian sound film The Sound of Love, the first Polish sound film Niebezpieczny romans, the first Czech sound film Tonka of the Gallows, the first Argentinian sound film Goodbye Argentina, and the oldest surviving television broadcast The Man with the Flower in His Mouth, an adaptation of Luigi Pirandello's same-named play. The earliest Betty Boop and Bimbo cartoons will enter into the public domain, including Dizzy Dishes. The 1930 Mickey Mouse cartoons enter the public domain this year as well, bringing with them the design of Pluto, who will enter the public domain through his debut appearance in The Chain Gang (where he was unnamed), and his second appearance as "Rover" (owned by Minnie Mouse) in The Picnic.[a] An Ub Iwerks cartoon character created independently of Disney, Flip the Frog, will also enter the public domain.
The first comic appearances of Hergé's Quick & Flupke and Chic Young's Blondie will also enter the public domain.
Some of the better-known works of art entering the public domain are Piet Mondrian's Composition with Red Blue and Yellow, Ansel Adams' photobook Taos Pueblo with writing by Mary Hunter Austin, Martin Munkácsi's photograph Three Boys at Lake Tanganyika, Edward Weston's photograph Pepper No. 30, early prints of M.C. Escher (The Bridge and Castrovalva), and the first designs of the Brno chair and the Tugendhat chair.
Among the popular songs that will be entering the public domain are "Body and Soul", "Georgia on My Mind", "I Got Rhythm", "Little White Lies", "Livin' in the Sunlight, Lovin' in the Moonlight", "On the Sunny Side of the Street", "Three Little Words", and "You're Driving Me Crazy".
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See also
Notes
- The dog character's name and Mickey's ownership of him will not enter the public domain until 2027, through the short The Moose Hunt.
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External links
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