Page 5 - Katten Kattwalk and Kattison Avenue - Winter 2026 - Issue 5
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for federal copyright protection separate from the For example, retailers frequently incorporate
musical composition embodied in the recording. They musical compositions or sound recordings in their
initially gained federal protection prospectively in advertisements, TikTok videos and other promotional
1972, and pre-1972 sound recordings did not gain materials. Recognizable clips from motion pictures
federal protection until 2018. Now, federal copyright are used to help tell a product’s story, and
in pre-1972 sound recordings subsists for 100 years recognizable cartoon characters may become brand
following their publication, which means that sound ambassadors. Artwork, including the works of street
recordings from 1925 entered the public domain on artists, is incorporated not only into advertising
January 1. for merchandise and apparel, but sometimes
incorporated into shoe and fabric designs. For the
Once a work enters the public domain, anyone most part, when copyright-protected works enter the
can use it without permission or a license. Anyone public domain, they become available for advertising
may publish a public domain novel in its entirety, and promotional uses without a license and without
for example, or use its storyline to create a play, relying on the defense of fair use.
a musical, a motion picture or a television series.
Motion pictures that have entered the public So, what classic works entered the public domain on
domain may be remade, or a prequel or sequel New Year’s Day 2026? The Center for the Study of
may be created. In short, public domain works can the Public Domain at Duke University publishes an
be a fertile source of new creativity, new art and annual, comprehensive list of such works at this link
new imagination — in fact, that is the very point of here. With a nod of appreciation to this publication,
bestowing copyright protection on works for a limited here are some of the more notable entries.
(though quite lengthy) period of time. However, it is Among the books that have just entered the public
important to emphasize that other countries have domain are As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner; The
their own copyright laws, and a work that has entered Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett; Agatha Christie’s
the public domain in the United States may still have The Murder at the Vicarage, which is the first novel
copyright protection in foreign territories.
featuring the Miss Marple character; the first four
Retailers, including those in the fashion industry, Nancy Drew books, beginning with The Secret of the
regularly make licensed use of copyrighted works and Old Clock; The Little Engine That Could; and certain
occasionally rely on the “fair use” doctrine to make works by Noël Coward, T.S. Eliot, Evelyn Waugh,
unlicensed use of protected works. In some instances, John Dos Passos, Edna Ferber and W. Somerset
these unlicensed uses have resulted in copyright Maugham. The literary character, Sam Spade, who is
owners asserting claims and commencing litigation, as the protagonist of The Maltese Falcon, had been used
Katten previously wrote about in this article. in commercials and advertising during the mid-20th
Century.
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