2023 in American public domain
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.jpg) The Jazz Singer, the first feature-length film with synchronized sound, became public domain in 2023.[1] | |
| Nickname | Public Domain Day |
|---|---|
| Date | January 1, 2023 |
| Frequency | Annually |
| Country | United States |
| Previous event | 2022 in American public domain |
| Next event | 2024 in American public domain |
Under the Copyright Term Extension Act, books published in 1927, films released in 1927, and other works published in 1927, entered the public domain in 2023. Unpublished works whose authors died in 1952 entered the public domain.
The Copyright Term Extension Act provides that works published in 1927 enter the public domain on January 1, 2023.[2] Works that are published in 1927 and then translated in a later year may still be copyrighted.[3] Sound recordings, however, are treated differently. Under the Music Modernization Act, all sound recordings published between the late 1800s (the earliest days of sound recording technology) and 1922 had entered the public domain in 2022,[4][5] and sound recordings that were first published after 1922 would not enter the public domain until 100 years after their respective dates of publication.[6] Therefore, no sound recordings entered the public domain in 2023.
Films
Notable films that entered the public domain in 2023 included the following:
- Metropolis, directed by Fritz Lang
- The Jazz Singer, the first feature film with synchronized dialogue
- Wings, the winner of the first Academy Award for Best Picture
- Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
- The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog, Alfred Hitchcock's first thriller
- The King of Kings, directed by Cecil B. DeMille
- London After Midnight, a lost film directed by Tod Browning
- The Way of All Flesh, a lost film directed by Victor Fleming
- 7th Heaven, the inspiration for the ending of the 2016 film La La Land
- The Kid Brother, starring Harold Lloyd
- The Battle of the Century, a Laurel and Hardy comedy
- Upstream, directed by John Ford
- Walt Disney's first nine Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoons[3]
- Chicago
- The Unknown
- It
- The Great Leap
- The Cat and the Canary
- The Underworld
- The Beloved Rogue
- The Mystery of the Louvre
- Uncle Tom's Cabin
- Casey at the Bat
- Tarzan and the Golden Lion[7]