The following is a list of creators whose works enter the public domain on 1 January 2022. When copyright expires in a creative work, it enters the public domain. Since copyright terms vary from country to country, the copyright status of a work may not be the same in all countries.
With the exception of Belarus (Life + 50 years) and Spain (which has a copyright term of Life + 80 years for creators that died before 1987), a work enters the public domain in Europe 70 years after its creator's death, if it was published during their lifetime. For previously unpublished material, those who publish it first retain the publication rights for 25 years. The list is sorted alphabetically and includes a notable work of the creator's that entered the public domain on 1 January 2022.
Other countries with a copyright term of life + 70 years are Argentina , Brazil , Chile , Ecuador, Uruguay, Peru, Paraguay, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Japan , Russia , Indonesia, Israel, Armenia, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Singapore, South Korea , Dominican Republic, Ghana, Madagascar , Mozambique, Senegal, Sri Lanka and Uzbekistan.
Names | Country | Birth | Death | Occupation | Notable work |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Louis Adamic | United States | 1898 | 1951 | Writer | Dynamite: The Story of Class Violence in America |
Bartlett Adamson | Australia | 1884 | 1951 | Journalist, writer, and political activist | |
Jyoti Prasad Agarwala | India | 1903 | 1951 | Film director, playwright, writer | Joymoti |
Choudhry Rahmat Ali | Pakistan | 1897 | 1951 | Jurist | Pakistan Declaration |
Muhammad Ali | India | 1874 | 1951 | Writer | |
Egbert Van Alstyne | United States | 1878 | 1951 | Composer | "In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree", "Pretty Baby" |
Aram Andonian | Armenia | 1875 | 1951 | Writer | The Memoirs of Naim Bey |
Leopold Andrian | Austria | 1875 | 1951 | Writer | |
Henry W. Armstrong | United States | 1879 | 1951 | Composer | Sweet Adeline |
Numa Ayrinhac | Argentina | 1881 | 1951 | Painter | |
Resurrección María de Azkue | Spain | 1864 | 1951 | Writer | |
Mohammad-Taqi Bahar | Iran | 1886 | 1951 | Poet | |
R. H. Barlow | United States | 1918 | 1951 | Writer, anthropologist | |
Sarah Jane Baines | Australia | 1866 | 1951 | Feminist, suffragette, social reformer | |
Jacques de Baroncelli | France | 1881 | 1951 | Film director | |
Gaspar Agüero Barreras | Cuba | 1873 | 1951 | Pianist, composer | |
Pramathesh Barua | India | 1903 | 1951 | Film director, actor, writer | |
Daisy Bates | Australia | 1859 | 1951 | Journalist, welfare worker | |
Celadet Alî Bedirxan | Turkey | 1893 | 1951 | Writer, linguist | |
Frank Weston Benson | United States | 1862 | 1951 | Painter | List of works by Frank Weston Benson |
Jørgen Bentzon | Denmark | 1897 | 1951 | Composer | |
Konstantin Biebl | Czech Republic | 1898 | 1951 | Poet | |
Leo Birinski | Germany | 1884 | 1951 | Playwright, screenwriter, film director | |
Dorothea Foster Black | Australia | 1891 | 1951 | Painter and printmaker | |
Algernon Blackwood | United Kingdom | 1869 | 1951 | Journalist, writer | Incredible Adventures, "The Willows", "The Wendigo" and The Doll and One Other |
Thomas Blamey | Australia | 1884 | 1951 | Soldier | |
Francisco Boix | Spain | 1920 | 1951 | Photographer | Photographs of Mauthausen concentration camp |
Ivanoe Bonomi | Italy | 1873 | 1951 | Politician | |
Stephen Bonsal | United States | 1865 | 1951 | Journalist, writer | |
Tadeusz Borowski | Poland | 1922 | 1951 | Writer, journalist | |
Herman Charles Bosman | South Africa | 1905 | 1951 | Writer | |
Alfred-Alphonse Bottiau | France | 1889 | 1951 | Sculptor | |
James Bridie | Scotland | 1888 | 1951 | Playwright, screenwriter, physician | |
Hermann Broch | Austria | 1886 | 1951 | Writer | The Sleepwalkers, The Death of Virgil |
Gelett Burgess | United States | 1866 | 1951 | Writer | "Purple Cow" |
Abraham Cahan | United States | 1860 | 1951 | Writer | The Rise of David Levinsky |
Andrew Caldecott | United Kingdom | 1884 | 1951 | Writer and British colonial administrator | |
Amy Carmichael | Ireland | 1867 | 1951 | Writer | |
John Alden Carpenter | United States | 1876 | 1951 | Composer | |
Ethel Carrick | Australia | 1872 | 1951 | Artist | |
Émile Chartier | France | 1868 | 1951 | Writer | |
Alphonse de Châteaubriant | France | 1877 | 1951 | Writer | Monsieur des Lourdines, La Brière |
Edfwin Cheel | Australia | 1872 | 1951 | Botanist, collector | |
Peter Cheyney | United Kingdom | 1896 | 1951 | Writer | Lemmy Caution, Slim Callaghan |
Ben Chifley | Australia | 1885 | 1951 | Politician | |
Cho Ki-chon | North Korea | 1913 | 1951 | Poet | |
Gendün Chöphel | Tibet | 1903 | 1951 | Writer, poet | |
Al Christie | Canada | 1881 | 1951 | Film director | |
Halfdan Cleve | Norway | 1879 | 1951 | Composer | |
Christabel Cockerell | United Kingdom | 1864 | 1951 | Painter | |
Charles Pearce Coleman | Australia | 1885 | 1951 | Actor | |
Edith Coleman | Australia | 1874 | 1951 | Naturalist | |
Gustav Cords | Germany | 1870 | 1951 | Composer | |
Cara David | Australia | 1856 | 1951 | Educator, feminist, social reformer | |
Wilfrid de Glehn | United Kingdom | 1870 | 1951 | Painter | |
Nirupama Devi | India | 1883 | 1951 | Writer | |
Enrique Santos Discépolo | Argentina | 1901 | 1951 | Composer, director | |
Hans Andrias Djurhuus | Faroe Islands | 1883 | 1951 | Poet, writer | |
Lloyd C. Douglas | United States | 1877 | 1951 | Writer, pastor | Magnificent Obsession, The Robe |
Georgios Drossinis | Greece | 1859 | 1951 | Writer | |
Frank DuMond | United States | 1865 | 1951 | Illustrator, painter | |
József Egry | Hungary | 1883 | 1951 | Painter | |
Mário Eloy | Portugal | 1900 | 1951 | Painter | |
Anastasia Eristavi-Khoshtaria | Georgia | 1868 | 1951 | Writer | |
John Erskine | United States | 1879 | 1951 | Writer, composer | The Moral Obligation to Be Intelligent |
Egypt | 1870 | 1951 | Poet | ||
Georgy Fedotov | Russia | 1886 | 1951 | Writer | |
Fei Mu | China | 1906 | 1951 | Film director | Spring in a Small Town |
Jerzy Fitelberg | United States | 1903 | 1951 | Composer | |
Kristo Floqi | Albania | 1876 | 1951 | Playwright, politician | |
John Flynn | Australia | 1880 | 1951 | Minister, aviator | |
Josef Bohuslav Foerster | Czech Republic | 1859 | 1951 | Composer | List of compositions by Josef Bohuslav Foerster |
Robert J. Flaherty | United States | 1884 | 1951 | Filmmaker | Nanook of the North |
Pietro Frosini | Italy | 1885 | 1951 | Musician, composer | |
Gao Jianfu | China | 1879 | 1951 | Painter | |
André Gide | France | 1869 | 1951 | Writer | Bibliography of André Gide |
Bert Grant | United States | 1878 | 1951 | Composer | |
María Grever | Mexico | 1885 | 1951 | Composer | "What a Diff'rence a Day Makes" |
René Guenon | France | 1886 | 1951 | Philosopher and Sufi Scholar | The Reign of Quantity and the Signs of the Times |
Jacinto Guerrero | Spain | 1895 | 1951 | Composer | |
James Norman Hall | United States | 1887 | 1951 | Writer | Mutiny on the Bounty |
Ebbe Hamerik | Denmark | 1898 | 1951 | Composer | |
Tamiki Hara | Japan | 1905 | 1951 | Writer | Summer Flower |
Fumiko Hayashi | Japan | 1903 | 1951 | Writer | Bangiku |
Józef Hecht | Poland | 1891 | 1951 | Printmaker, painter | |
Sadegh Hedayat | Iran | 1903 | 1951 | Writer, poet | The Blind Owl, The Stray Dog |
Thomas N. Heffron | United States | 1872 | 1951 | Film director | |
Geoffrey Forrest Hughes | Australia | 1885 | 1951 | Aviator | |
Herman Hupfeld | United States | 1894 | 1951 | Songwriter | "As Time Goes By", "Let's Put Out the Lights (and Go to Sleep)" |
Jenő Illés | Hungary | 1879 | 1951 | Film director | |
Ernest Ludvig Ipsen | United States | 1869 | 1951 | Painter | |
George Jeske | United States | 1891 | 1951 | Film director | |
Tor Jonsson | Norway | 1916 | 1951 | Poet | |
Gustave-Henri Jossot | France | 1866 | 1951 | Illustrator, painter | |
Robert Kahn | Germany | 1865 | 1951 | Composer | |
Alfrēds Kalniņš | Latvia | 1879 | 1951 | Composer | |
Germany | 1872 | 1951 | Archeologist | ||
Kim Dong-in | Korea | 1900 | 1951 | Writer | |
Kim Myeong-sun | Korea | 1896 | 1951 | Writer | |
Kitawaki Noboru | Japan | 1901 | 1951 | Painter | |
Tyra Kleen | Sweden | 1874 | 1951 | Writer | |
Georg af Klercker | Sweden | 1877 | 1951 | Film director | South of the Highway |
Katarzyna Kobro | Poland | 1898 | 1951 | Avant-garde sculptor | |
Alexander Krein | Soviet Union | 1883 | 1951 | Composer | |
Kwee Tek Hoay | Indonesia | 1886 | 1951 | Writer | List of works by Kwee Tek Hoay |
Constant Lambert | United Kingdom | 1905 | 1951 | Composer | List of compositions by Constant Lambert |
Louis Lavelle | France | 1883 | 1951 | Philosopher | |
Ernestina Lecuona | Cuba | 1882 | 1951 | Pianist, composer | |
Henri-René Lenormand | France | 1882 | 1951 | Playwright | |
Sinclair Lewis | United States | 1885 | 1951 | Writer | Main Street, Babbitt, Arrowsmith |
J. C. Leyendecker | United States | 1874 | 1951 | Illustrator | The Arrow Collar Man |
Heinz von Lichberg | Germany | 1890 | 1951 | Writer | "Lolita" |
Ana Aurora do Amaral Lisboa (pt) | Brazil | 1860 | 1951 | Poet | |
Benito Lynch | Argentina | 1885 | 1951 | Writer | The Caranchos of Florida, The Englishman of the Bones, The Romance of a Gaucho |
Richard Malden | United Kingdom | 1879 | 1951 | Biblical scholar, editor, author of ghost stories | |
Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim | Finland | 1867 | 1951 | Politician, memoirist | |
Homero Manzi | Argentina | 1907 | 1951 | Writer | |
Edwin L. Marin | United States | 1899 | 1951 | Film director | |
Konstantin Märska | Estonia | 1896 | 1951 | Film director | |
Nellie McClung | Canada | 1873 | 1951 | Writer | |
Nikolai Medtner | Russia | 1880 | 1951 | Composer | List of compositions by Nikolai Medtner |
Oscar Micheaux | United States | 1884 | 1951 | Writer, director | |
Hasrat Mohani | India | 1875 | 1951 | Independence activist, poet | |
Giuseppe Mulè | Italy | 1885 | 1951 | Composer | |
Takashi Nagai | Japan | 1908 | 1951 | Writer | The Bells of Nagasaki |
Nam Cao | Vietnam | 1915 | 1951 | Writer | |
Ștefan Neaga | Moldova | 1900 | 1951 | Composer | Anthem of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic |
Ndoc Nikaj | Albania | 1864 | 1951 | Writer | |
Ivor Novello | United Kingdom | 1893 | 1951 | Composer | "Keep the Home Fires Burning" |
Selim Palmgren | Finland | 1878 | 1951 | Composer, pianist | |
Pyotr Pavlenko | Soviet Union | 1899 | 1951 | Writer | |
Scott Pembroke | United States | 1889 | 1951 | Film director | |
Brian Penton | Australia | 1904 | 1951 | Journalist, novelist | Landtakers |
Felix Petyrek | Austria | 1892 | 1951 | Composer | |
Andrei Platonov | Soviet Union | 1899 | 1951 | Writer | The Foundation Pit |
Ľudmila Podjavorinská | Slovakia | 1872 | 1951 | Writer, poet | |
Clara Katharina Pollaczek | Austria | 1875 | 1951 | Writer | |
Voydan Popgeorgiev – Chernodrinski | Bulgaria | 1875 | 1951 | Playwright, writer | Macedonian Blood Wedding |
George Henry Powell | United Kingdom | 1880 | 1951 | Songwriter | "Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit-Bag" |
Paula von Preradović | Austria | 1887 | 1951 | Writer | National anthem of Austria |
James Peter Quinn | Australia | 1869 | 1951 | Painter | |
Assen Razcvetnikov | Bulgaria | 1897 | 1951 | Writer | |
Godofredo Rangel | Brazil | 1884 | 1951 | Writer, translator | |
Gholamreza Rashid-Yasemi | Iran | 1895 | 1951 | Poet | |
Cattamanchi Ramalinga Reddy | India | 1880 | 1951 | Educator, writer | |
Henri Rivière | France | 1864 | 1951 | Painter | |
Sigmund Romberg | United States | 1887 | 1951 | Composer | |
Phil Rosen | United States | 1888 | 1951 | Film director | |
Georges Hanna Sabbagh | France | 1877 | 1951 | Painter | |
Pedro Salinas | Spain | 1891 | 1951 | Poet | |
Harry Schmidt | Germany | 1894 | 1951 | Mathematician | |
Artur Schnabel | Austria | 1882 | 1951 | Classical pianist, composer | Artur Schnabel's recordings of Beethoven's piano sonatas |
Arnold Schoenberg | Austria United States |
1874 | 1951 | Composer, music theorist | List of compositions by Arnold Schoenberg |
Percival Serle | Australia | 1871 | 1951 | Writer | |
Robert Seton-Watson | United Kingdom | 1879 | 1951 | Historian | |
Levon Shant | Armenia | 1869 | 1951 | Playwright | |
Angelos Sikelianos | Greece | 1884 | 1951 | Poet, playwright | |
S. Sylvan Simon | United States | 1910 | 1951 | Film director | |
Houcine Slaoui | Morocco | 1921 | 1951 | Musician | |
John Sloan | United States | 1871 | 1951 | Painter | |
Pamela Colman Smith | United Kingdom | 1878 | 1951 | Illustrator | Rider–Waite tarot deck |
Henry De Vere Stacpoole | Ireland | 1863 | 1951 | Writer | The Blue Lagoon |
Paul L. Stein | Austria | 1892 | 1951 | Film director | |
Arthur Szyk | Poland | 1894 | 1951 | Illustrator | |
Abanindranath Tagore | India | 1871 | 1951 | Painter, writer | |
Maila Talvio | Finland | 1871 | 1951 | Writer | |
Mary Tannahill | United States | 1863 | 1951 | Painter | |
Nikoghayos Tigranian | Armenia | 1856 | 1951 | Composer | |
Timrava | Slovakia | 1867 | 1951 | Writer | |
Marcel Tournier | France | 1879 | 1951 | Composer | |
Walter Trier | Germany | 1890 | 1951 | Illustrator | Illustration of Emil and the Detectives and Lilliput covers |
Manuel Ugarte | Argentina | 1875 | 1951 | Writer | |
Jan Valtin | Germany | 1907 | 1951 | Writer, covert agent | |
Maxence Van der Meersch | France | 1907 | 1951 | Writer | |
Vsevolod Vishnevsky | Soviet Union | 1900 | 1951 | Playwright | |
Henrik Visnapuu | Estonia | 1890 | 1951 | Poet | |
Will Vodery | United States | 1885 | 1951 | Composer | |
Volodymyr Vynnychenko | Ukraine | 1880 | 1951 | Writer, playwright | |
Richard Wallace | United States | 1894 | 1951 | Film director | |
Jean-Jacques Waltz | France | 1873 | 1951 | Illustrator | |
Nik Welter | Luxembourg | 1871 | 1951 | Writer | |
Ludwig Wittgenstein | Austria United Kingdom |
1889 | 1951 | Philosopher | Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, Philosophical Investigations |
Wols | Germany | 1913 | 1951 | Painter, photographer | |
Gregorios Xenopoulos | Greece | 1867 | 1951 | Writer | |
Miyamoto Yuriko | Japan | 1899 | 1951 | Writer | |
Corrado Zoli | Italy | 1877 | 1951 | Writer | |
Hermynia Zur Mühlen | Austria | 1883 | 1951 | Writer, translator |
Names | Country | Birth | Death | Occupation | Notable work |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mazo de la Roche | Canada | 1879 | 1961 | Writer | Jalna |
Dashiell Hammett | United States | 1896 | 1961 | Writer | The Continental Op, Sam Spade, Nick and Nora Charles |
Hazel Heald | United States | 1896 | 1961 | Writer | |
Ernest Hemingway | United States | 1899 | 1961 | Writer | Ernest Hemingway bibliography |
Clark Ashton Smith | United States | 1896 | 1961 | Writer | Clark Ashton Smith bibliography |
In most countries of Africa and Asia, as well as Belarus , Bolivia, Canada , New Zealand, Egypt and Uruguay, a work enters the public domain 50 years after its creator's death.
Names | Country | Birth | Death | Occupation | Notable work |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Kate Aitken | Canada | 1891 | 1971 | Broadcaster | Books |
Ya'qoub Al-Oudat | Jordan | 1909 | 1971 | Poet, writer | Biography of Mustafa Wahbi et-Tull |
John Beaglehole | New Zealand | 13 June 1901 | 10 October 1971 | Historian | The Life of Captain James Cook |
James Boswell (artist) | New Zealand | 9 June 1906 | 15 April 1971 | Artist | The Artist's Dilemma |
John W. Campbell | United States | 1910 | 1971 | Author and editor | Who Goes There? |
Brock Chisholm | Canada | 1896 | 1971 | Psychiatrist | Works |
August Derleth | United States | 1909 | 1971 | Writer | August Derleth bibliography |
Abd El-Razzak El-Sanhuri | Egypt | 1895 | 1971 | Legal scholar | Al-Waseet fil Qanun |
Spain | 1886 | 1971 | Composer | ||
Helmy Halim | Egypt | 1916 | 1971 | Film director | Our Beautiful Days |
Usmar Ismail | Indonesia | 1921 | 1971 | Film director | Darah dan Doa |
Abdul Jabbar Jomard | Iraq | 1909 | 1971 | Historian, Poet | |
Reginald Alec Martin | United Kingdom | 1908 | 1971 | Children's writer | Kemlo |
R. A. K. Mason | New Zealand | 10 January 1905 | 13 July 1971 | Poet | The Beggar, No New Thing, This Dark Will Lighten: Selected Poems 1923–41 |
Janka Maŭr | Belarus | 1883 | 1971 | Children's writer, translator | |
Ghulam Rasool Mehr | Pakistan | 1895 | 1971 | Scholar | Books |
Jim Morrison | United States | 1943 | 1971 | Musician | The Doors discography |
Ogden Nash | United States | 1902 | 1971 | Poet | Bibliography of Ogden Nash |
Andre Ryder | Greece Egypt |
1908 | 1971 | Musician | |
Palestine | 1923 | 1971 | Poet | ||
Stevie Smith | United Kingdom | 1902 | 1971 | Poet, writer | Works |
Igor Stravinsky | Russia | 1882 | 1971 | Composer | List of compositions by Igor Stravinsky |
Frank Underhill | Canada | 1889 | 1971 | Historian | Upper Canadian Politics in the 1850s |
Philip Wylie | United States | 1902 | 1971 | Author | Gladiator |
In 2004 copyright in Australia changed from a "plus 50" law to a "plus 70" law, in line with America and the European Union. But the change was not made retroactive (unlike the 1995 change in the European Union which brought some British authors back into copyright, especially those who died from 1925 to 1944). Hence the work of an author who died before 1955 is normally in the public domain in Australia; but the copyright of authors was extended to 70 years after death for those who died in 1955 or later, and no more Australian authors will come out of copyright until 1 January 2026 (those who died in 1955).[1]
Spain , Colombia, and Equatorial Guinea have a copyright term of life + 80 years. For Spain this is for creators who died before 1987. The list is sorted alphabetically and includes a notable work of the creator's that entered the public domain on 1 January 2022.
Names | Country | Birth | Death | Occupation | Notable work |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Prudenci Bertrana | Spain | 1867 | 1941 | Writer | Entre la terra i els núvols |
J. Stuart Blackton | United Kingdom United States |
1875 | 1941 | Cartoonist, film producer and director | Humorous Phases of Funny Faces |
Henry Justice Ford | United Kingdom | 1860 | 1941 | Artist and illustrator | Lang's Fairy Books |
James Joyce | Ireland | 1882 | 1941 | Writer | Ulysses, Dubliners and Finnegans Wake |
Spain | 1888 | 1941 | Playwright | Plays | |
Hugh Walpole | United Kingdom | 1884 | 1941 | Author | Rogue Herries, The Cathedral and The Dark Forest |
Virginia Woolf | United Kingdom | 1882 | 1941 | Author | Mrs Dalloway, Orlando and The Waves |
All sheet music published in 1926 entered the public domain.[3] Under the Music Modernization Act, tens of thousands of sound recordings that were published before 1923 entered the public domain on 1 January 2022.[4][5] The Library of Congress says that this will result in "Increased public and online access to previously unavailable recordings and expanded opportunities to explore the earliest days of our sound recording heritage."[4] Sound recordings that were first published after December 31, 1922, have not yet entered the public domain.[6]
Under the Copyright Term Extension Act, books published in 1926, films released in 1926, and other works published in 1926 entered the public domain in 2022.[7]
Notable books entering the public domain in the United States included The Sun Also Rises, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, Winnie-the-Pooh, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, and Bambi, a Life in the Woods.[8]
Notable films entering the public domain in the United States included Don Juan (one of the early sound films) and The Son of the Sheik (Rudolph Valentino's final film).
Unpublished works by authors who died in 1951 entered the public domain.
Original source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022 in public domain.
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