Copyright Tales

How works enter the public domain, ownership fights over characters, each January 1’s new arrivals.

How works enter the public domain, and the fights along the way. Bram Stoker's widow and the Nosferatu lawsuit, Sherlock Holmes sold outright for £25, how Congress kept the public domain on pause from 1962 to 2019, and why a 1931 film can go free a year early.

For what enters the U.S. public domain on Jan 1, 2027, see our Public Domain 2027 list. These stories are not legal advice.

11 stories

Berlin and London, 1922–1925
Bram Stoker’s Widow Won
Florence Stoker got a German court to order every print of Nosferatu destroyed. It didn’t work.
Ward Lock's offer letter dated Oct 30, 1886 (£25 for the copyright).
Sherlock Holmes, Sold for £25
The first Sherlock Holmes story was rejected or ignored by several publishers. The one that took it offered £25 for the copyright, made it a Christmas annual, and, by Doyle's account, never paid him another penny.
Christmas 1907, when new editions arrived after the UK copyright ran out (no single anniversary day).
Alice’s Recalled First Edition
The first printing of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was pulled because the illustrator hated how his pictures came out. Forty-two years later the UK copyright ran out, and by that Christmas at least seven new illustrated versions were in the shops.
Opened in New York Dec 31, 1931.
Jekyll and Hyde: 1931 or 1932?
Fredric March's Oscar-winning Jekyll opened on New Year's Eve 1931, which puts it on every "class of 1931" list. Its copyright record says 1932, and the renewal was filed by the parent company of the studio that later bought the film and shelved it.
1926 sound recordings enter US PD Jan 1, 2027 under 17 U.S.C.
The Jazz Record Locked Until 2067
Until 2018, federal law said no American sound recording made before 1972 could enter the public domain until 2067. Then Congress changed the rule, and on Jan 1, 2027, Jelly Roll Morton's 1926 "Black Bottom Stomp," a Library of Congress landmark, goes free 40 years early.
OKeh 8300 'Heebie Jeebies' (rec.
Armstrong’s Dropped Lyric Sheet
On Feb 26, 1926, Louis Armstrong dropped his lyric sheet in the middle of a take and kept singing nonsense syllables. That is how the story goes, and the people in the room mostly backed it up. The record that came out of that take goes into the US public domain on Jan 1, 2027.
Public Domain Day 2027 celebrates 1931 films.
The 1931 Film Already Free
On January 1, 2027, the 1931 movies enter the US public domain. One of the most famous 1931 gangster films is not on that list, because its copyright is dated December 29, 1930. By the Copyright Office's own records, it has been free since January 1, 2026.
Public Domain Day 2027 (1931 works, 1926 recordings).
The Long Copyright Freeze
On Sept 19, 1962, Congress passed a two-sentence resolution that kept old copyrights from expiring "until December 31, 1965." It then renewed that stopgap eight more times, once on New Year's Eve 1974. In 1998 it added 20 years on top. The upshot: Jan 1, 2027 is only the ninth US Public Domain Day with a new crop of published works since 1998.
Copyright date Jan 9, 1894 (Copyright Office catalog, Walls 1953).
The Sneeze That Got a Copyright
The oldest surviving motion picture registered for copyright in the US is five seconds of a man sneezing. It reached the Library of Congress as a single photograph on a card, because the law had no category for films.
Knight Bruce kept the injunction on Jan 18, 1844.
Dickens and the Carol Pirates
On 6 January 1844, number 16 of Parley's Illuminated Library published a penny version of A Christmas Carol. Dickens got an injunction in Chancery. He still paid the costs.
105th anniversary of the Berlin premiere of Nosferatu, 4 March 1922.
Florence Stoker vs. Nosferatu
In July 1925 a German court ordered the negative and every print of Nosferatu destroyed. Florence Stoker, Bram Stoker's widow, had sued over the unauthorized film. Copies were already abroad, and the 1922 film is in the public domain in the United States.

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