A Copyright Milestone: 1923 Publications enter the Public Domain

Copyright law in the United States (and elsewhere for that matter) is a swamp of uncertainty and confusion. But 2019 brings a milestone to U.S. Copyright Law: Books and other publications from 1923 are now in the public domain. This is the first time in 21 years that the copyright restrictions have retreated even one year. It would seem that there is one small glimmer of hope in the morass of arcane restrictions that constitute copyright law around the world. But don't get your hopes up too high, the U.S. Legislature could still pass additional restrictions retroactively.

Most of the attention in news about this milestone is directed at high visibility works such as publications by famous authors or poets, but by and large, the vast number of publications that do not have such notoriety will pass quietly into the public domain and start becoming available on websites such as Archive.org and Project Gutenberg. Here is a quote from the Project Gutenberg website about the expiration.

The Public Domain will grow again in 2019 

In the US, annual copyright term expiry is set to begin again in 2019, after a 20-year hiatus due to the Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998. On January 1, 2019, items published in 1923 will enter the public domain in the US. In the early days of Project Gutenberg, growth of the public domain on January 1 was an annual event. See Duke Law's "Public Domain Day"for a listing of many items that were scheduled to enter the public domain, but have yet to do so because of the 1998 extension. Some notable items scheduled to enter the public domain in 2019 include Felix Salten's "Bambi" and Kahlil Gibran's "The Prophet."

What does this mean to genealogists? It means that there are a huge number of books and other documents that can now be digitized and put online with impunity.

But, as with anything that deals with law in the United States or Internationally, there are caveats. You might want to read the following article entitled, "The myth of the pre-1923 public domain" published in the LibraryLaw Blog. But since genealogists should not be too worried about the copyright status of the Happy Birthday song or Mickey Mouse, unless Congress can free itself from its own swamp, there is little cause for worry or concern. But if the Congress does decide to tinker with the Copyright Law again, I will be one to write as much as possible opposing any further extensions. If you want to pursue this issue, there are plenty of articles online about the subject, just search for "1923 copyright."