When the USA decided to retroactively extend the term of copyright, it
deprived itself of free, open access to important cultural treasures
that new creators could build upon as creators have done since time
immemorial.
Luckily, Canada and the EU were not so foolish, and so today, there is a
raft of work entering the public domain elsewhere in the world that US
creators and audiences will not be able to freely use.
A selection of works that could have entered the public domain in the USA this year:
works from 1961 including Catch-22, Stranger in a Strange Land, The
Soft Machine, The Phantom Tollbooth, Franny and Zooey, Breakfast at
Tiffany’s, West Side Story (the movie)… all copyrighted until 2057.
And, yes, scientific articles from 1961 are still behind paywalls.
Works that Canadians and Europeans can freely use, as of tomorrow:
in Canada, the works of René Magritte, Langston Hughes, Dorothy Parker,
and many more. In the EU, the works of Hugh Lofting (the Doctor
DoLittle books) and William Moulton Marston (creator of Wonder Woman!).
