layout: post
title: Public Domain DayCopy

2022
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Each year in the United States, on January 1st, a new batch of old works enters the public domain, under the legal principle that works registered or published prior to 1978 have a maximum copyright term of 95 years.

So on January 1st, 2022, all works published in or before 1926 burst the bonds of copyright and became freely available. In 2023, works from 1927 were liberated; in 2024, works from 1928 will be liberated; and this glorious pattern will continue until 2073, when works from 1977 will fal into the public domain. I'm not completely sure what happens after that, except that under current law the regime gets stricter. But I hope that by 2073, we will have a somewhat more rational copyright policy, or perhaps none at all.