Aside from celebrating the start of a new year, Jan. 1 is an important day for creators as it marks the celebration of Public Domain Day. Each year, a number of titles lose their copyright status and enters the public domain, giving anyone free reign to use the characters as they please. 

Last year we saw one of the biggest characters, Walt Disney’s first rendition of Mickey Mouse as portrayed in the Steamboat Willie short, become free for the public to use as they see fit. This year, iconic characters like Hergé’s Tintin and E.C. Segar’s Popeye the Sailor Man join the club.

Though the characters are now free to use, it’s worth noting that it’s only their original versions that are free to use. This means that you might run into trouble if you portray Popeye as the spinach-eating strongman we all know him for since this trait of his was not part of his character until 1932. Tintin might also be troublesome to get around unless you reside in the US since the European Union’s copyright laws have the curious reporter’s rights held until the 2050s. Each country has its own version of copyright laws to adhere to, the same applies for us. In the Philippines, copyright protection for certain works can last throughout the lifetime of the author and will still remain protected until 50 years after their passing. 

Other notable works set to join the public domain are literary classics like Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms, Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials Mystery, and the first English translation of the German novel All Quiet on the Western Front. Joining these notable works as well are a number of films from 1929, an exciting year for cinema as it led to the start of the “talkies” era when sound production for movies started to make its way into the norm. Viewers can now freely enjoy the first Marx Brothers film The Cocoanuts, Academy Award-winning film The Broadway Melody, Alfred Hitchcock’s first sound film Blackmail, and The Hollywood Revue of 1929, which contains the well-known “Singin’ in the Rain” track. A few more animated works by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerk also join the public domain, including Mickey Mouse’s first talking appearance in The Karnival Kid and the Silly Symphonies short The Skeleton Dance. Jazz enthusiasts will also be delighted to find George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue,” Clarence Williams’ Blue Five recording of “Everybody Loves My Baby (But My Baby Don’t Love Nobody But Me),” which includes a young Louis Armstrong on the sax, Clara Smith’s “Deep Sea Blues,” and Ray Miller’s “Mama’s Gone, Good Bye.” Finally for art, an exciting number of surrealist artist Salvador Dali’s works like The Great Masturbator, The Accommodations of Desire, and Illumined Pleasures are set to be public domain.

As we celebrate the beginning of 2025, may this also spark a new wave of artists inspired by works from the past to improve upon and take these works to higher levels. By celebrating the public domain, we allow the legacy of many artists who have since passed to be remembered and celebrated by all.