A number of popular artworks are entering the public domain. This means that anyone can use it. Usually artworks are protected by Intellectual Property Rights, and you can’t use them without the owner’s permission. However, there are certain exceptions where you can use some of the artworks without the owner’s permission. How is this possible and which artworks are now in the public domain.
Don’t worry, I’m not saying anything dubious. Intellectual Property rights are protected, but for a duration. This duration varies from country to country. Countries like the UK, protect IP Rights for 70 years after the death of the creator. Countries like Canada, protect IP Rights 50 years after the death of the creator. The US has more complex laws where extensions on copyrights are also allowed. Thus in 2022, artworks from 1926 are about to enter the public domain.
The list includes Dorothy Parker’s poetry book Enough Rope, F.W. Murnau’s legendary cinema Faust and Buster Keaton’s Battling Butler. There are several books by prominent writers such as Ernest Hemingway and Franz Kafka. One of Kafka’s unpublished books, The Castle is becoming public. Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises is becoming public too. However, perhaps the most popular and in demand artwork becoming public is Winnie the Pooh. The collection of short stories by A.A. Milne is also now open for all.
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