As their copyrights expire, books, music and films - from Sherlock Holmes and "The Great Gatsby," to Walt Disney's original Mickey Mouse - enter the public domain, inspiring new creative ideas ...

Here are the books and characters newly joining the list of works in the public domain in 2025. Latest U.S.

Steamboat Willie, lMickey Mouse, 1928). Many iconic copyrighted works (most notably, Mickey Mouse) that were first published prior to 1929 fell into the public domain in the United States starting ...

Boiled down, any public domain use of the original Mickey cannot be perceived as coming from Disney, Ms. Ginsburg explained. This protection is strong, she added, because the character, even in ...

But 2025 is not far behind with several iconic books, characters and more freely available for public use. This year will see works from 1929 and sound recordings from 1924 entering the public domain.

There are many criteria involved in assessing if a work is in the Public Domain. However, works published (not to include unpublished works) prior to January 1, 1923, are generally considered to be in ...

Other books entering the public domain include Herbert Asbury’s The Gangs of New York, Agatha Christie’s The Big Four, William Faulkner’s Mosquitoes and Ernest Hemingway’s Men Without Women.