Social:2026 in public domain
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.
Entering the public domain in countries with life + 70 years
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 For previously unpublished material, those who publish it first will have the publication rights for 25 years. 2026 marks the first year since 2006 that works will enter the public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.
Names | Country | Birth | Death | Occupation | Notable work |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
James Agee | ![]() |
1909 | 1955 | Novelist, Journalist, Poet, Screenwriter | A Death in the Family |
Ruby M. Ayres | ![]() |
1881 | 1955 | Romance novelist | Bibliography |
Johannes Baader | ![]() |
1875 | 1955 | Writer, Artist, Architect | |
Lloyd Bacon | ![]() |
1889 | 1955 | Actor, Film director | Filmography as director |
Dale Carnegie | ![]() |
1888 | 1955 | Writer | How to Win Friends and Influence People |
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin | ![]() |
1881 | 1955 | Jesuit priest, Scientist, Paleontologist, Theologian, Philosopher | The Phenomenon of Man |
Paul Claudel | ![]() |
1868 | 1955 | Poet, Dramatist | Works |
Donald Corley | ![]() |
1886 | 1955 | Short story author, illustrator, architect | |
William C. deMille | ![]() |
1878 | 1955 | Screenwriter, Film director | Filmography |
Isaak Dunayevsky | ![]() |
1900 | 1955 | Composer | Compositions |
Albert Einstein | ![]() ![]() |
1879 | 1955 | Theoretical physicist | Scientific publications, The Evolution of Physics, The Meaning of Relativity |
George Enescu | ![]() |
1881 | 1955 | Composer | Compositions |
Concha Espina | ![]() |
1879 | 1955 | Writer | Bibliography |
Joseph Jefferson Farjeon | ![]() |
1883 | 1955 | Novelist, Playwright, Screenwriter | Works |
José Ortega y Gasset | ![]() |
1883 | 1955 | Philosopher, Essayist | Works |
Rodolfo Graziani | ![]() |
1882 | 1955 | General | Books |
Arthur Honegger | ![]() |
1892 | 1955 | Composer | Compositions |
Clemence Housman | ![]() |
1861 | 1955 | Author | |
Jaime Ovalle | ![]() |
1894 | 1955 | Composer | Works |
James P. Johnson | ![]() |
1894 | 1955 | Composer, pianist | Charleston |
Fernand Léger | ![]() |
1881 | 1955 | Painter, Sculptor, Filmmaker | |
Thomas Mann | ![]() |
1875 | 1955 | Writer, Philanthropist, Essayist | Works |
Max Pechstein | ![]() |
1881 | 1955 | Painter | |
Robert Riskin | ![]() |
1897 | 1955 | Screenwriter, Playwright | Filmography |
Nat Schachner | ![]() |
1895 | 1955 | Author and biographer | Space Lawyer |
Robert E. Sherwood | ![]() |
1896 | 1955 | Screenwriter, Playwright | |
Nicolas de Staël | ![]() |
1914 | 1955 | Painter | |
Al. T. Stamatiad | ![]() |
1885 | 1955 | Poet, Short story writer, Dramatist | |
Wallace Stevens | ![]() |
1879 | 1955 | Poet | The Auroras of Autumn |
Yves Tanguy | ![]() |
1900 | 1955 | Painter | Paintings |
Yevgeny Tarle | ![]() |
1874 | 1955 | Historian | Napoleon's Invasion of Russia, 1812 |
Tin Ujević | ![]() |
1891 | 1955 | Poet | Works |
Maurice Utrillo | ![]() |
1883 | 1955 | Painter | |
Hermann Weyl | ![]() |
1885 | 1955 | Mathematician, Theoretical physicist, Philosopher | Bibliography |
Entering the public domain in Spain
Spain has a copyright term of life + 80 years for creators that died before 1987. The list is sorted alphabetically and includes a notable work of the creator that entered the public domain on 1 January 2026.
Names | Country | Birth | Death | Occupation | Notable work |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Béla Bartók | ![]() |
1881 | 1945 | Composer | Compositions |
Dietrich Bonhoeffer | ![]() |
1906 | 1945 | Lutheran pastor, Theologian | The Cost of Discipleship |
Theodore Dreiser | ![]() |
1871 | 1945 | Novelist, Journalist | Sister Carrie, An American Tragedy |
Anne Frank | ![]() |
1929 | 1945 | Diarist | The Diary of a Young Girl |
Zinaida Gippius | ![]() |
1869 | 1945 | Poet, Playwright, Novelist | Bibliography |
Adolf Hitler | ![]() |
1889 | 1945 | Führer of Germany | Mein Kampf |
Benito Mussolini | ![]() |
1883 | 1945 | Prime Minister of Italy, Duce of Fascism | Writings |
Kitaro Nishida | ![]() |
1870 | 1945 | Philosopher | Works |
Franklin D. Roosevelt | ![]() |
1882 | 1945 | President of the United States | Looking Forward |
Felix Salten | ![]() |
1869 | 1945 | Writer | Bambi, a Life in the Woods |
Josep Maria Sert | ![]() |
1874 | 1945 | Muralist | |
Ignacio Zuloaga | ![]() |
1870 | 1945 | Painter | |
Franz Werfel | ![]() ![]() |
1890 | 1945 | Novelist, Playwright, Poet | The Forty Days of Musa Dagh |
Ignacio Zuloaga | ![]() |
1870 | 1945 | Painter |
Countries with life + 60 years
Names | Country | Birth | Death | Occupation | Notable work |
---|
Entering the public domain in countries with life + 50 years
In most countries of Africa and Asia, as well as Belarus , Bolivia, Canada , New Zealand, Egypt and Uruguay; a work enters the public domain 50 years after the creator's death.
Names | Country | Birth | Death | Occupation | Notable work |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Leroy Anderson | ![]() |
1908 | 1975 | Composer | Sleigh Ride, Blue Tango, The Typewriter, The Syncopated Clock |
Ivo Andrić | ![]() |
1892 | 1975 | Writer, Poet | The Bridge on the Drina |
Hannah Arendt | ![]() ![]() |
1906 | 1975 | Writer, Political philosopher | The Human Condition, Eichmann in Jerusalem |
Mikhail Bakhtin | ![]() |
1895 | 1975 | Philosopher | Works |
Thomas Hart Benton | ![]() |
1889 | 1975 | Painter | |
James Blish | ![]() |
1921 | 1975 | Writer | Cities in Flight, Star Trek novelizations |
Arthur Bliss | ![]() |
1891 | 1975 | Composer | Compositions |
Tim Buckley | ![]() |
1947 | 1975 | Guitarist, Singer, Songwriter | Discography |
Luigi Dallapiccola | ![]() |
1904 | 1975 | Composer | Compositions |
Lefty Frizzell | ![]() |
1928 | 1975 | Singer, Songwriter | Discography |
Konstantine Gamsakhurdia | ![]() |
1893 | 1975 | Writer | The Right Hand of the Grand Master |
Bernard Herrmann | ![]() |
1911 | 1975 | Composer | Film scores |
Julian Huxley | ![]() |
1887 | 1975 | Evolutionary biologist | Works |
Chiang Kai-shek | ![]() |
1887 | 1975 | President of the Republic of China | China's Destiny (中国之命运) |
Rowland V. Lee | ![]() |
1891 | 1975 | Director, Actor, Screenwriter, Producer | |
Murray Leinster | ![]() |
1896 | 1975 | Writer | Bibliography |
Elijah Muhammad | ![]() |
1897 | 1975 | Leader of the Nation of Islam | Message to the Blackman in America |
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan | ![]() |
1888 | 1975 | Philosopher, President of India | The Dhammapada, The Principal Upanishads |
Alfred Hamish Reed | ![]() |
1875 | 1975 | Writer, publisher | The Gumdiggers: The Story of Kauri Gum |
Maria Elizabeth Rothmann | ![]() |
1875 | 1975 | Author | Kinders van die Voortrek |
Nora Sanderson | ![]() |
1905 | 1975 | Romance writer | Hospital in New Zealand |
Rod Serling | ![]() |
1924 | 1975 | Screenwriter, Playwright, Television producer | The Twilight Zone |
Dmitri Shostakovich | ![]() |
1906 | 1975 | Composer | Compositions |
Noble Sissle | ![]() |
1889 | 1975 | Jazz composer, Lyricist | Shuffle Along, I'm Just Wild About Harry |
Christopher Strachey | ![]() |
1916 | 1975 | Computer scientist | CPL, Fundamental Concepts in Programming Languages |
Bill Sutch | ![]() |
1907 | 1975 | Economist | Poverty and Progress in New Zealand, The Quest for Security in New Zealand |
Arnold J. Toynbee | ![]() |
1889 | 1975 | Historian | A Study of History |
Thornton Wilder | ![]() |
1897 | 1975 | Playwright, Novelist | The Bridge of San Luis Rey, Our Town |
P. G. Wodehouse | ![]() |
1881 | 1975 | Playwright, Novelist | Bibliography |
United States
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.[2] Sound recordings that were published in 1925 will enter the public domain.[3]
Unpublished works whose authors died in 1955 will enter the public domain.
Among the literary works that will enter public domain in 2026 are Dashiell Hammett's detective novel The Maltese Falcon, Agatha Christie's Miss Marple-novel The Murder at the Vicarage, William Faulkner's novel As I Lay Dying, H. Rider Haggard's final work Belshazzar, Armitage Trail's novel Scarface, Noël Coward's play Private Lives, Milt Gross's graphic novel He Done Her Wrong, Bertold Brecht's play The Decision in its original German, the first appearance of Herge's Tintin in Tintin in the Land of the Soviets in it original French, the first English translation of Franz Kafka's The Castle, the first English translation of Hermann Sudermann's The Excursion to Tilsit and Carolyn Keene's The Secret of the Old Clock and the character Nancy Drew (although only the original 1930 text).
Significant films entering the public domain this year include All Quiet on the Western Front, Greta Garbo's first sound film Anna Christie, Jean Harlow's film debut Hell's Angels, John Wayne's film debut in the The Big Trail, The Love Parade, 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), 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 soundfilm 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. The earliest Betty Boop works will enter into the public domain including Dizzy Dishes. The Disney character Pluto will also enter the public domain, debuting in the 1930 cartoon The Chain Gang.
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 Grant Wood's painting American Gothic, Piet Mondrian's Composition with Red Blue and Yellow, Frederick Judd Waugh's painting Wild Weather, José Clemente Orozco's fresco Prometheus, 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.
See also
- 1955 in literature and 1975 in literature for deaths of writers
- Public Domain Day
- Creative Commons
References
- ↑ "How long does copyright last? | National Library of Australia". https://www.nla.gov.au/how-long-does-copyright-last. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
- ↑ "Copyright and the Public Domain". Public Domain Information Project. http://www.pdinfo.com/Copyright-Law/Copyright-Law.php. Retrieved 2019-01-23.
- ↑ Hirtle, Peter B. (3 January 2020). "Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States". Cornell University Library Copyright Information Center. https://copyright.cornell.edu/publicdomain. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
External links
- "Authors by Year of Death – 1955". AuthorAndBookInfo.com. http://www.authorandbookinfo.com/abyod/1955.htm.
- Popular Books of 1930 at Goodreads
![]() | Original source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026 in public domain.
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