WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� Sherlock Holmes is finally free to the American public in 2023.
The over Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's tales of a whipsmart detective 鈥� which has even ensnared 鈥� will finally come to an end as the 1927 copyrights expiring Jan. 1 include Conan Doyle's last Sherlock Holmes work.
Alongside the short-story collection 鈥淭he Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes," books such as 鈥淭o The Lighthouse,鈥� 鈥淢en Without Women,鈥� "Mosquitoes" and 鈥淭he Big Four鈥� 鈥� an mystery 鈥� will become public domain as the calendar turns to 2023.
Once a work enters the public domain it can legally be shared, performed, reused, repurposed or sampled without permission or cost. The works from 1927 were originally supposed to be copyrighted for 75 years, but the 1998 Copyright Term Extension Act delayed opening them up for an additional 20 years.
While many prominent works on the list used those extra two decades to earn their copyright holders good money, a Duke University expert says the copyright protections also applied to 鈥渁ll of the works whose commercial viability had long subsided.鈥�
鈥淔or the vast majority鈥攑robably 99%鈥攐f works from 1927, no copyright holder financially benefited from continued copyright. Yet they remained off limits, for no good reason,鈥� Jennifer Jenkins, director of Duke鈥檚 Center for the Study of the Public Domain, heralding "Public Domain Day 2023."
That long U.S. copyright period meant many works that would now become available because they were not profitable to maintain by the legal owners, but couldn鈥檛 be used by others. On the Duke list are such 鈥渓ost鈥� films like Victor Fleming's 鈥淭he Way of All Flesh鈥� and Tod Browning's 鈥淟ondon After Midnight.鈥�
1927 portended the silent film era's end with the release of the first 鈥渢alkie鈥� 鈥� a film with dialogue in it. That was the historic first feature-length film with synchronized dialogue for Al Jolson's
In addition to the Alan Crosland-directed film, other movies like 鈥淲ings鈥� 鈥� directed by William A. Wellman and the at the very first Oscars 鈥� and Fritz Lang's seminal science-fiction will enter the public domain.
Musical compositions 鈥� the music and lyrics found on sheet music, not the sound recordings 鈥� on the list include hits from Broadway musicals and jazz standards from the likes of legends like and in addition to 鈥淧uttin' on the Ritz鈥� and 鈥�(I Scream You Scream, We All Scream for) Ice Cream鈥� by Howard Johnson, Billy Moll and Robert A. King.
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highlighted notable books, movies and musical compositions entering the public domain 鈥� just a fraction of the thousands due to be unleashed in 2023.
BOOKS
鈥� 鈥淭he Gangs of New York,鈥� by Herbert Asbury (original publication)
鈥� 鈥淒eath Comes for the Archbishop,鈥� by Willa Cather
鈥� 鈥淭he Big Four,鈥� by Agatha Christie
鈥� 鈥淭he Tower Treasure,鈥� the first Hardy Boys mystery by the pseudonymous Franklin W. Dixon
鈥� 鈥淭he Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes,鈥� by Arthur Conan Doyle
鈥� 鈥淐opper Sun,鈥� by Countee Cullen
鈥� 鈥淢osquitoes,鈥� by William Faulkner
鈥� 鈥淢en Without Women,鈥� by Ernest Hemingway
鈥� 鈥淒er Steppenwolf,鈥� by Herman Hesse (in German)
鈥� 鈥淎merika," by Franz Kafka (in German)
鈥� 鈥淣ow We Are Six,鈥� with illustrations from E.H. Shepard
鈥� 鈥淟e Temps retrouv茅,鈥� by Marcel Proust (in French)
鈥� 鈥淭wilight Sleep,鈥� by Edith Wharton
鈥� 鈥淭he Bridge of San Luis Rey,鈥� by Thornton Wilder
鈥� 鈥淭o The Lighthouse,鈥� by Virginia Woolf
MOVIES
鈥� 鈥�7th Heaven,鈥� directed by Frank Borzage
鈥� 鈥淭he Battle of the Century,鈥� a Laurel and Hardy film directed by Clyde Bruckman
鈥� 鈥淭he Kid Brother,鈥� directed by Ted Wilde
鈥� 鈥淭he Jazz Singer,鈥� directed by Alan Crosland
鈥� 鈥淭he Lodger: A Story of the London Fog,鈥� directed by Alfred Hitchcock
鈥� 鈥淢etropolis,鈥� directed by Fritz Lang
鈥� 鈥淪unrise,鈥� directed by F.W. Murnau
鈥� 鈥淯pstream,鈥� directed by John Ford
鈥� 鈥淲ings,鈥� directed by William A. Wellman
MUSICAL COMPOSITIONS
鈥� 鈥淏ack Water Blues,鈥� 鈥淧reaching the Blues鈥� and 鈥淔oolish Man Blues鈥� (Bessie Smith)
鈥� 鈥淭he Best Things in Life Are Free,鈥� from the musical 鈥淕ood News鈥� (George Gard 鈥淏uddy鈥� De Sylva, Lew Brown, Ray Henderson)
鈥� 鈥淏illy Goat Stomp,鈥� 鈥淗yena Stomp鈥� and 鈥淛ungle Blues鈥� (Ferdinand Joseph Morton)
鈥� 鈥淏lack and Tan Fantasy鈥� and 鈥淓ast St. Louis Toodle-O鈥� (Bub Miley, Duke Ellington)
鈥� 鈥淐an鈥檛 Help Lovin鈥� Dat Man鈥� and 鈥淥l鈥� Man River,鈥� from the musical 鈥淪how Boat鈥� (Oscar Hammerstein II, Jerome Kern)
鈥� 鈥淒iane鈥� (Erno Rapee, Lew Pollack)
鈥� 鈥淔unny Face鈥� and 鈥溾�橲 Wonderful,鈥� from the musical 鈥淔unny Face鈥� (Ira and George Gershwin)
鈥� 鈥�(I Scream You Scream, We All Scream for) Ice Cream鈥� (Howard Johnson, Billy Moll, Robert A. King)
鈥� 鈥淢ississippi Mud鈥� (Harry Barris, James Cavanaugh)
鈥� 鈥淢y Blue Heaven鈥� (George Whiting, Walter Donaldson)
鈥� 鈥淧otato Head Blues" and Gully Low Blues鈥� (Louis Armstrong)
鈥� 鈥淧uttin鈥� on the Ritz鈥� (Irving Berlin)
鈥� 鈥淩usty Pail Blues,鈥� 鈥淪loppy Water Blues鈥� and 鈥淪oothin鈥� Syrup Stomp鈥� (Thomas Waller)
The Associated Press
