With a new year comes a new crop of books, films, music, and other works falling into the public domain. For 2025, that includes works that were originally published in 1929.
According to the Duke University School of Law's Center for the Study of the Public Domain, that list includes a number of iconic characters.
At the top of the list is Popeye, but before you crack open your celebratory can of spinach, it's important to note the version of the sailor entering the public domain is the version that appeared in the "Thimble Theatre" comic strip, first appearing as a minor character in the strip "Gobs of Work", published on January 17, 1929.
While this version of the character does have superhuman capabilities, key details such as him deriving strength from spinach weren't introduced into the comics until 1932. Furthermore, trademarks regarding Popeye still belong to Hearst Holdings, Inc. Unlike copyright, trademarks only expire when they cease being used.
Another character in a similar copyright quagmire is the intrepid reporter Tintin, who first made his appearance in 1929 with "Tintin in the Land of the Soviets," created for the Belgian newspaper Le Vingtième Siècle by George Prosper Remi, under the pen name Hergé.
Like 'Popeye,' it is only the initial version of the character that appears in the series of newspaper comic strips, which comprise the first volume of "The Adventures of Tintin." That means that other beloved characters, such as his best friend Captain Haddock and the bumbling detectives Thomson and Thompson, remain under copyright.
One character that does not have nearly as many snags is the classic sci-fi hero, Buck Rogers, as the first comic strip, "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century A.D." was first published in January 7, 1929.
However, he had technically already been in the public domain for a number of decades, as the copyright protection for the strip had lapsed before copyright protections were extended under the 1976 Copyright Act. Furthermore, the original version of the character, first introduced in 1928 in the novella "Armageddon 2419" as Anthony Rogers, had already fallen into the public domain as well.
In addition to new characters entering the public domain, characters that have previously entered the public domain are getting access to new (old) material. For Mickey Mouse, a dozen more short films have entered the public domain, including his first talking appearance, "The Karnival Kid," released July 31, 1929. This short also features the first appearance of his iconic white gloves.
Here are some additional examples of works falling into the public domain as of 2025, provided by Duke University School of Law:
Literature
- "The Sound and the Fury" by William Faulkner
- "A Farewell to Arms" by Ernest Hemingway
- "A Room of One's Own" by Virginia Woolf
- Red Harvest and The Maltese Falcon (as serialized in Black Mask magazine) by Dashiell Hammett
- "Cup of Gold" by John Steinbeck
- "A High Wind in Jamaica" by Richard Hughes
- "Laughing Boy: A Navajo Love Story" by Oliver La Farge
- "Rope" by Patrick Hamilton
- The first English translation of "All Quiet on the Western Front" by Arthur Wesley Wheen (Originally written by Erich Maria Remarque)
- "Seven Dials Mystery" by Agatha Christie
- "Good-bye to All That" by Robert Graves
- "Is Sex Necessary? Or, Why You Feel the Way You Do" by E. B. White and James Thurber
- "Briefe an einen jungen Dichter (Letters to a Young Poet)" by Rainer Maria Rilke (only the original German version)
- "A Preface to Morals" by Walter Lippmann
- "The Roman Hat Mystery" by Ellery Queen (Frederic Dannay and Manfred Bennington Lee)
Film
- "The Cocoanuts," directed by Robert Florey and Joseph Santley (the first Marx Brothers feature film)
- "The Broadway Melody," directed by Harry Beaumont (winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture)
- "The Hollywood Revue of 1929," directed by Charles Reisner (featuring the song “Singin’ in the Rain”)
- "The Skeleton Dance," directed by Walt Disney and animated by Ub Iwerks (the first Silly Symphony short from Disney)
- "Blackmail," directed by Alfred Hitchcock (Hitchcock’s first sound film)
- "Hallelujah," directed by King Vidor (the first film from a major studio with an all African-American cast)
- "The Wild Party," directed by Dorothy Arzner (Clara Bow’s first “talkie”)
- "Welcome Danger," directed by Clyde Bruckman and Malcolm St. Clair (the first full-sound comedy starring Harold Lloyd)
- "On With the Show," directed by Alan Crosland (the first all-talking, all-color, feature-length film)
- "Pandora's Box (Die Büchse der Pandora)," directed by G.W. Pabst
- "Show Boat," directed by Harry A. Pollard (adaptation of the novel and musical)
- "The Black Watch," directed by John Ford (Ford’s first sound film)
- "Spite Marriage," directed by Edward Sedgwick and Buster Keaton (Keaton’s final silent feature)
- "Say It with Songs," directed by Lloyd Bacon (follow-up to The Jazz Singer and The Singing Fool)
- "Dynamite," directed by Cecil B. DeMille (DeMille's first sound film)
- "Gold Diggers of Broadway," directed Roy Del Ruth
Sound Recordings
- "Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen," recorded by Marian Anderson
- "Rhapsody in Blue," recorded by George Gershwin
- "Shreveport Stomp," recorded by Jelly Roll Morton
- "Lazy," recorded by The Georgians
- "Everybody Loves My Baby (But My Baby Don’t Love Nobody But Me)," recorded by Louis Armstrong and Clarence Williams' Blue Five
- "Deep Blue Sea Blues," recorded by Clara Smith
- "The Gouge of Armour Avenue," recorded by Fletcher Henderson and his Orchestra featuring Big Charlie Green
- "Mama’s Gone, Good Bye," recorded by Ray Miller and his Orchestra
- "It Had To Be You," recorded by the Isham Jones Orchestra and by Marion Harris
- "California Here I Come," recorded by Al Jolson
Music Compositions
- "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. (“Fats”) Waller & Harry Brooks (from the musical Hot Chocolates)
- "An American in Paris," George Gershwin
- "Bolero," Maurice Ravel
- "(What Did I Do to Be So) Black and Blue," lyrics by Andy Paul Razaf, music by Thomas W. 'Fats' Waller & Harry Brooks (a song about racial injustice from the musical Hot Chocolates)
- "Tiptoe Through the Tulips," lyrics by Alfred Dubin, music by Joseph Burke
- "Happy Days Are Here Again," lyrics by Jack Yellen, music by Milton Ager (the theme song for Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1932 presidential campaign)
- "What Is This Thing Called Love?," by Cole Porter (from Porter’s musical Wake Up and Dream)
- "Am I Blue?," lyrics by Grant Clarke, music by Harry Akst
- "You Were Meant for Me," lyrics by Arthur Freed, music by Nacio Herb Brown
- "Honey," lyrics and music by Seymour Simons, Haven Gillespie, and Richard A. Whiting
- "Waiting for a Train," lyrics and music by Jimmie Rodgers
