André Gide by Theo Van Rysselberghe, 1903 / Wikimedia Commons / public domain
At midnight like every year, the change of year is your choice of champagne, kisses under the mistletoe (well, in an epidemic period that can be discussed ;-)), exchanges of wishes etc. And like every year although we think about it less or not at all, it is the joy to see authors rise (why “fall”?) In the public domain.
Dissemination in Wikisource
In a few moments, announces Alexis Kauffmann, the founder of Framasoft now project manager at National Education, André Gide will thus access the public domain, with among other consequences of being posted on Wikisource (thanks to the volunteers at which we owe), one of the associated Wikipedia projects.
The category “Public domain in 2022” is already ready in Wikisource. This shows that the philosopher Alain (Emile Chartier for civil status) is also entering the public domain on January 1. The news site on “the universes of the book” Actualitté lists several authors concerned: besides Gide and Alain, the writer Maxence Van der Meersch, Prix Goncourt in 1936 for L’Empreinte du dieu, the philosopher Louis Lavelle, the occultist and orientalist René Guénon, the libertarian writer and cartoonist Henri Gustave Jossot, the collaborator Alphonse de Châteaubriant …
Under English and American law, the works of 1926 also pass into the public domain (original version, not their translations into French), which includes Hemingway’s first novel, “The Sun Rises Also”, the first book with Winnie the teddy bear, and especially “The Murder of Roger Ackroyd”, book by Agatha Christie, whose script originality caused a scandal at the time among the purists.
And to see more authors and works released in a few moments, Wikipedia in English has this page which allows you to see them from different countries, depending on their copyright term.
“The foundations of new creations”
The Public Domain Day website, unfortunately disappeared (it was a co-production of Wikimedia France and Creative Commons France), explained a few years ago:
“These works can thus become the foundations of new creations: people can thus transform a poem into song lyrics, or make a film based on a public domain novel (you only have to consult the program of your cinema of neighborhood to see how often this happens!).
You can publish literary works on your personal site, or print them for your friends or, or even distribute them to your students if you are a teacher. Of course, you can also, for example, as a professional printer, make a leather-bound edition of a public domain book and sell it at a profit, while the text of the book remains freely available to everyone. . The same advantages apply to paintings, drawings and other types of artistic expression entering the public domain at the same time following the expiration of copyright. ”
To think about … and happy new year 2022!
Read also
Space agency, museums: treasures of images released under Creative Commons – February 27, 2017
A site and a conference tonight to celebrate the public domain – January 26, 2012