So glad you asked! The public-domain class of 2025 includes Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms, Woolf’s A Room of One's Own, the 1.0 versions of Popeye and Tintin, Ravel’s “Boléro,” and the first recording of Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” - my favorite in this bunch. - ThreadSky

robpegoraro.com • 67 days ago

So glad you asked! The public-domain class of 2025 includes Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms, Woolf’s A Room of One's Own, the 1.0 versions of Popeye and Tintin, Ravel’s “Boléro,” and the first recording of Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” - my favorite in this bunch.

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bento-bongos.bsky.social•67 days ago

All the new horror media that will spawn from the public domain! Some people lack imagination!

amazonpissjugs.bsky.social•67 days ago

forgive my hot take here, but I'm not so psyched about an artist's work becoming public domain, even if they're dead

robpegoraro.com•67 days ago

Why? Under our prolonged copyright terms, the artist died decades before the work entered the public domain. And the artist almost certainly used other people's contributions to the public domain over their life.

amazonpissjugs.bsky.social•67 days ago

Yes, all art is based on our experiences, including other art. But this is no justification.

so how long does the work get protections? I mean a lot of artists didn't make much money to begin with, especially in certain communities, and their families rely on what they do get.

amazonpissjugs.bsky.social•67 days ago

Moreover today with Spotfy, etc, paying artists literally next to zero, this problem becomes even more egregious

robpegoraro.com•67 days ago

Life of the author + 70 years, or 95 years after publication if it's a work for hire owned by a company. And speaking of companies... I can think of a certain very large online retailer with its own streaming-video service that would appreciate being able to profit from even longer terms.

amazonpissjugs.bsky.social•67 days ago

OK that's a long time. I thought it was only 20 years, period.

jrekier.bsky.social•67 days ago

I was told that Tintin will only go into public domain in 10 years as the law differentiates between us and non-us authors. See here (Belgian media in French): https://www.rtbf.be/article/tintin-dans-le-domaine-public-aux-etats-unis-en-2025-vraiment-11483316

dorialexander.bsky.social•67 days ago

It’s a very weird take. Maybe there is a deeper argument here the journalist has not well understood but US public domain rules have always applied similarly to non-US creators.

robpegoraro.com•67 days ago

U.S. copyright law, as I understand it from reading the Copyright Office's circulars, does not distinguish between U.S. and foreign authors in terms of copyright duration. But that story also only discusses the comic strip, not the character of Tintin himself.

jrekier.bsky.social•67 days ago

I’d be interested to know! As you might expect, Tintin is a *huge* deal here in Belgium. The copyright owners are notoriously cagey. I wouldn’t mind seeing the character being used a bit more freely.

pactriton.bsky.social•65 days ago

guess that means that United Airlines can Trademark Rhapsody in blue now.

robpegoraro.com•65 days ago

You can't trademark every use of a phrase, only in reference to a specific product or service. For example, somebody already has a trademark for a wine named Rhapsody in Blue. https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=76254746&caseSearchType=US_APPLICATION&caseType=DEFAULT&searchType=statusSearch

pactriton.bsky.social•65 days ago

I know NBC trademarks the 'I love you' tune.

I'm talking about the song itself, since it's been tied to United Airlines for over 35 years.

tinarussell.bsky.social•67 days ago

Wait, Tintin?! Will it just be Tintin in the Land of the Soviets, or is Tintin in the Congo going public-domain at midnight as well?

(explanation: I love Tintin, I want those stories to be public domain,but I am nonetheless terrified thinking of all the people discovering Tintin for the first time…

tinarussell.bsky.social•67 days ago

…and it's the old story where Tintin is really, really racist 😣)

(I think it's unfair that Tintin has this reputation for being racist when it's really just that one story, but man, that story is BAAAAD. Trust me, Tintin does get better!)

robpegoraro.com•67 days ago

As I understand it, just the first one. You'll have to wait a little longer to be able to post a legal rewrite of that other one where Tintin does the right thing.

robpegoraro.com•67 days ago

It's a treat to write about the great creative works entering the public domain each Jan. 1. Especially because for 21 years, a Congressional copyright extension essentially froze the public domain in place, as @glennf.com explained in this 2019 piece that I read and promptly wished I'd written.

maxtundra.com•67 days ago

👀 @holywowstudios.bsky.social

holywowstudios.bsky.social•67 days ago

Yesss… Fresh pile of cultural heritage ready to be plundered….

glennf.com•67 days ago

The character traits thing is one of the most interesting bits of modern case law—it wasn’t a thing until the Conan Doyle “estate” sued over Holmes as a whole creature. Richard Posner wrote a superb decision that severed characters for the first time formally into ©able traits across their existence

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