Happy Public Domain Day 2009!

January 1 was Public Domain 2009 day -- the day on which the works of authors who died in 1938 entered the public domain in most countries. As in previous years, the Public Domain blog has a long and fascinating list of the authors whose works are finally free to be reprinted and spread around the world:

Some of the more interesting members of the 1938 class of deceased authors include:
Danish bacteriologist Hans Christian Gram (of Gram staining fame)
British-Canadian author, conservationist, and literary fraud Archie Belaney (Grey Owl)
Latvian-born ethnologist and musicologist Abraham Zevi Idelsohn (to whom the lyrics to “Hava Nagila” are attributed)
American cartoonist E. C. Segar (creator of “Popeye”)
American illustrator Johnny Gruelle (creator of “Raggedy Ann”)
American lawyer Clarence Darrow (of “Scopes Monkey Trial” fame)
American songwriter James Thornton (“When You Were Sweet Sixteen”, written in 1898)
Japanese martial artist Kano Jigoro (founder of judo)
American industrialist Harvey Samuel Firestone (of tire fame)

Public Domain Day 2009 (via Michael Geist)

Discussion

Take a look at this

#1 posted by Takuan , January 4, 2009 10:38 PM

your holiday already over?

#2 posted by Cory Doctorow , January 4, 2009 10:48 PM

Yes! And not a moment too soon. I need to work!

#3 posted by Takuan , January 4, 2009 10:52 PM

(poor lad! he's delirious)

#4 posted by Takuan , January 4, 2009 10:53 PM

is that work as in unchain your raging muse else the very vault of thy cranium burst asunder? or like everyone else you overspent last month?

#5 posted by Marilyn Terrell

, January 5, 2009 2:03 AM

Now you can use thisl cover illustration of "Raggedy Ann and Andy and the NIce Fat Policeman" whose cheeks appear to be full of chewing tobacco: http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/n17/n86980.jpg

#6 posted by Anonymous , January 5, 2009 4:39 AM

Just to be clear, the U.S. is NOT one of "most countries." Most material published in the U.S. before 1978 is covered for a term of 95 years from publication.

#7 posted by sammich , January 5, 2009 7:47 AM

Also, from the 50 year zone, Robert W Service -

'The Cremation of Sam McGee',
'The Men That Don't Fit In',
'The Shooting of Dan McGrew'...

#8 posted by Baldhead , January 5, 2009 8:15 AM

cool... now my Popeye slash fanfic can be sold totally legal.

I can't wait to write it! Wait. I haven't finished a story since high school (failed writer is someone who fails to write) damn.

#9 posted by airship , January 5, 2009 8:25 AM

A reminder that this does NOT meant that, for example, 'Popeye' is in the public domain now. Works that are still financially viable have no doubt been pulled in under the Disney-Bono clause in the U.S. by the big corporate entities that now own them.

#10 posted by bobechs , January 5, 2009 10:46 AM

Refresh my memory if you would, please. What was Harvey Firestone's magnum opus? Seems to have slipped my mind for the moment.

#11 posted by gpeare

, January 5, 2009 12:34 PM

BOBECHS: "On the Road (with Henry Ford)"

#12 posted by Anonymous , January 5, 2009 8:19 PM

Can't forget Georges Méliès!

#13 posted by Anonymous , January 7, 2009 3:44 AM

As a Popeye fan, this is great news... 'cept Popeye is owned by King Feature Syndicate.

#14 posted by Foolster41

, January 7, 2009 3:33 PM

Now I can write that popeye meets ragedy ann cross over! :)

#13: Anonymous - how does that work if someone buys the rights for something that then becomes public domain? Isn't what King Features has (well except maybe new works from a current staff artist/writer if they have one) now public domain?