These 1929 Copyrighted Works Will Enter the Public Domain in 2025

Even if you’re not the type to dress up and go out to ring in the new year, there’s still something to celebrate on January 1st: a new batch of copyrighted works entering the public domain. In 2025, rights to 1929 characters, books, plays, films, drawings, paintings and photographs, as well as 1924 sound recordings, will expire. This means the public (that’s us) will be able to legally copy, distribute and use them without permission or payment, according to the Center for the Study of the Public Domain at Duke University . Here are some of the highlights.

Notable characters who will enter the public domain in 2025.

• Popeye : The burly sailor, played by E.C. Segar, first appeared in “Gobs of Work” in his Thimble Theater comic.

• Tintin : The young investigative reporter made his debut in The Adventures of Tintin by Belgian cartoonist Hergé in Le Petit Vingtième.

Notable books and plays that will enter the public domain in 2025.

• William Faulkner “The Sound and the Fury”

• Ernest Hemingway “A Farewell to Arms”

• Virginia Woolf “A Room of One’s Own”

• “The Maltese Falcon” by Dashiell Hammett (TV series in Black Mask magazine)

• John Steinbeck’s Gold Cup (his first novel)

• Arthur Wesley Wyn’s first English translation of Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front .

• The Mystery of the Seven Dials of Agatha Christie

• Goodbye to It All by Robert Graves

Notable films that will enter the public domain in 2025

• 12 more Mickey Mouse cartoons , including Mickey’s first talking appearance in “The Carnival Kid” (Mickey and Minnie Mouse first became public knowledge this year )

• Skeleton Dance directed by Walt Disney and animated by Ub Iwerks (Disney’s first Silly Symphony short)

• Blackmail , directed by Alfred Hitchcock (Hitchcock’s first sound film)

• Coconuts , directed by Robert Florey and Joseph Santley (the Marx Brothers’ first feature film)

• A Broadway Melody , directed by Harry Beaumont (Oscar winner for Best Picture)

• Hallelujah , directed by King Vidor (first major studio film with an all-black cast)

• 1929 Hollywood Revue , directed by Charles Reisner (featuring “Singin’ in the Rain”)

• The Wild Party , directed by Dorothy Arzner (Clara Bow’s first talkie)

• Show Boat , directed by Harry A. Pollard (novel and musical adaptation)

Notable music compositions that will enter the public domain in 2025.

• Singin’ in the Rain , lyrics by Arthur Freed, music by Nacio Herb Brown.

• Ain’t Misbehavin’ , lyrics by Andy Paul Razaf, music by Thomas W. (“Fat Boys”) Waller and Harry Brooks (from the musical ” Hot Chocolate “)

• An American in Paris , George Gershwin

• Bolero , orchestral composition by Maurice Ravel

• (What Did I Do to Be So) Black and Blue , lyrics by Andy Paul Razaf, music by Thomas W. “Fats” Waller and Harry Brooks (song about racial injustice from the musical ” Hot Chocolate “)

• Tiptoeing Through the Tulips , lyrics by Alfred Dubin, music by Joseph Burke (Note: Tiny Tim’s 1968 recording is still under copyright)

• Happy Days Are Here Again , lyrics by Jack Yellen, music by Milton Ager (theme song for Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1932 presidential campaign)

Famous sound recordings from 1924 will become public in 2025.

• Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen , written by Marian Anderson

• Rhapsody in Blue , recorded by George Gershwin

• Shreveport Stomp , recorded by Jelly Roll Morton

• “Everybody Loves My Baby (But My Baby Loves Nobody But Me”) , recorded by Louis Armstrong and Clarence Williams’ Blue Five

• Deep Blue Sea Blues , recorded by Clara Smith

• It Had To Be You , recorded by the Isham Jones and Marion Harris Orchestra.

• California Here I Come , recorded by Al Jolson

Additional public domain works can be found in the listings of the Duke University Center for Public Domain Studies and Copyright Lately .

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