Happy New Year! This week, copyrighted works from 1928 and sound recordings from 1923 entered the public domain as their term of protection ended.
A lot of attention is focused on the Steamboat Willie version of Mickey Mouse. Disney has also been using this version as a trademark, and newer versions of Mickey remain under copyright protection, so I would caution would-be adopters to check with IP counsel first.
Public Domain
- https://web.law.duke.edu/cspd/publicdomainday/2024/
- https://publicdomainreview.org/blog/2024/01/public-domain-day-2024/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_in_public_domain
- https://bookriot.com/public-domain-books-2024/
- https://www.theverge.com/24006670/mickey-mouse-steamboat-willie-enters-copyright-public-domain-2024
- https://techcrunch.com/2024/01/02/steamboat-willie-mickey-mouse-public-domain/