Copyright Issues Archives - The Steve Laube Agency

What Entered the Public Domain in 2026?

I try to post something about this topic every year. This year is no exception.

In the United States, under U.S. copyright law, works published in 1930 and earlier are now in the public domain. One can publish them or use them without securing copyright permission. In case you are wondering about the specifics, the Copyright Term Extension Act (passed in 1998) gave works published from 1923 through 1977 a 95-year term limit. They enter the public domain on January 1 after the conclusion of the 95th year.

This law applies not only to books but to everything under copyright, like films and music.

Notable titles are on this year’s list:

William Faulkner, As I Lay Dying
Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon (the full book version)
Agatha Christie, The Murder at the Vicarage (the first novel featuring Miss Marple)
Dorothy L. Sayers, Strong Poison
T. S. Eliot, Ash Wednesday
Sigmund Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents (in the original German, Das Unbehagen in der Kultur)
Olaf Stapledon, Last and First Men (a relatively unknown science fiction novel. Some suggest that C. S. Lewis wrote his space trilogy, in part, as a response to Stapledon’s agnostic and amoral philosophy found in this story)
Carolyn Keene (pseudonym for Mildred Benson), the first four Nancy Drew books, beginning with The Secret of the Old Clock
Noël Coward, Private Lives
Evelyn Waugh, Vile Bodies
Watty Piper, The Little Engine That Could (the version illustrated by Lois Lenski)
William H. Elson, Elson Basic Readers (the first appearances of Dick and Jane)

Two rather well-known characters are now on the list:

Rover (later renamed Pluto) from Disney’s The Chain Gang (as an unnamed bloodhound) and The Picnic (as Rover)

Blondie and Dagwood from the Blondie comic strips by Chic Young

Musical compositions include:

Four Songs by Gershwin: “I Got Rhythm,” “I’ve Got a Crush on You,” “But Not for Me,” and “Embraceable You”

“Dream a Little Dream of Me,” lyrics by Gus Kahn, music by Fabian Andre and Wilbur Schwandt

This means you can write a novel with Nancy Drew and Blondie as the protagonists looking for a murderer at the vicarage while singing “I Got Rhythm,” and use them all without permission.

Please don’t.

Avoid Copyright Scams

With the Anthropic lawsuit I wrote about in October (linked here), the topic of copyright registration has become a hot one. Unfortunately, the issue has led to various schemes that affect authors’ desire to obtain proper copyright registration. Similar problems have surfaced regarding registration for the above-cited lawsuit. On December 2, 2025, Jonathan Bailey wrote the following article, …

What Entered the Public Domain in 2025?

I try to post something about this every year. This year is no exception. In the United States, under U.S. copyright law, works published in 1929 and earlier are now in public domain. One can publish them or use them without securing copyright permission. In case you are wondering about the specifics, the Copyright Term Extension Act (passed in 1998) gave works published from 1923 through 1977 a …

What Entered the Public Domain This Year?

I try to post something about this every year. This year is no exception. In the United States, under U.S. copyright law, works published in 1928 and earlier are now in public domain. One can publish them or use them without securing copyright permission. In case you are wondering about the specifics, the Copyright Term Extension Act (passed in 1998) gave works published from 1923 through 1977 a …

What Goes on the Copyright Page?

I have an odd habit born of being in this industry for four decades. Whenever I pick up a physical book, I look at the front cover, back cover, and then the copyright page. I know, it’s a rather nerdy thing to do; but you would be surprised what information can be found there and what it means. The copyright page is placed after the title page and should always be on the left-hand side …