2023 is finally here and with the new year comes a number of changes in the pop culture landscape, perhaps the most exciting of which are updates to the United States public domain. Each year, new intellectual properties enter public domain due to the specifics of the Copyright Team Extension Act of 1998.
Also joining the final Sherlock Holmes stories in public domain this year is the seminal science fiction movie Metropolis, Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse, and the first full-length"talkie" film — meaning the first non-silent film — The Jazz Singer. Also included on the list are several musical compositions, including Irvin Berlin's"Puttin' on the Ritz", Howard Johnson, Billy Moll, and Robert A.
"When works go into the public domain, they can legally be shared, without permission or fee. Community theaters can screen the films. Youth orchestras can perform the music publicly, without paying licensing fees. Online repositories such as the Internet Archive, HathiTrust, Google Books, and the New York Public Library can make works fully available online. This helps enable access to cultural materials that might otherwise be lost to history. 1927 was a long time ago.
Sherlock Holmes entering public domain effectively ends a legal debate about copyright law and the character. Until now, all but this final story had been in public domain since 2016 which the Conan Doyle Estate used as the basis to attempt to hold onto the copyright for the character, including suing Netflix over their Millie Bobby Brown-starring film Enola Holmes.
0commentsWhat do you think about Sherlock Holmes entering public domain? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section.