There are many, many movies and TV shows coming out next year that are bound by various intellectual property rights. These creations, from Batman to Boba Fett, are all protected in the United States by a variety of copyright laws that are rooted in the United States Constitution. But not everything is covered under the veil of intellectual property. New works go into the public domain every year, which means any works can build on them, and this year’s harvest extends to the Hundred Acre Forest.
As of the Public Domain Verification, there is no one-size-fits-all rule of what will and will not be in the public domain each year. That’s because different countries have different laws. Some countries, such as the UK and Russia, have laws protecting intellectual property for the life of the originator plus 70 years. Others, like Canada and New Zealand, rely on one person’s lifetime plus 50 years.
But the United States has more complex laws thanks to the Copyright Term Extension Act 1998. As the name suggests, the Extension Act allows a copyright to be extended.
In 2022, works from 1926 will be in the public domain after a 96-year extension. Many of the supplements are obscure, but there are some big names among the many. Here are a few options:
Winnie the Pooh from AA Milne
Winnie Pooh is about to become the public domain rock star. British author AA Milne’s short story collection was a huge hit at the time, and kids fell in love with Pooh, Piglet, Eyeore and Christopher Robin. However, that doesn’t mean you can suddenly sell t-shirts with Eyeore on them and ask if everyone else is having fun. Disney still very much owns the merchandising rights to Pooh, as in a. proven Lawsuit from 2012
Franz Kafka’s castle
One of Kafka’s three unfinished novels, The castle tells the story of a surveyor, just called K., who is summoned to a small town by his authorities. Upon arrival, however, he discovers that these authorities, who reside in the city’s castle, are largely anonymous and have created an irrationally complex bureaucracy for every aspect of their citizens’ lives. And the city dwellers love it. Sometimes surreal The castle shows Kafka’s far-reaching imagination, working towards what he did best: finding a logical and sometimes terrifying conclusion.
It also inspired an accompanying album by electronics group Tangerine Dream in 2013 that is pure vibes.
Faust, director. FW Murnau
As one of the first great horror directors, Murnau is perhaps best known today for its 1922 vampire film Nosferatu, but his 1929 adaptation of the story of the Man Who Made a Deal with Mephisto is equally impressive. The artwork and the details in fist remain hypnotic to this day and are considered a shining example of German Expressionism, in which the feeling evoked by the set and characters is just as important as the script.
As director Shinji Aoyama once said when giving the name fist One of his ten best films of all time: “I always want to remind myself that films are made out of the joy of replica. The fascination of films is not in their realism, but in how you enjoy the “real”. With that in mind, I always have fist in my mind when I face a film, make a film and talk about a film. “
And luckily, it’s already on YouTube. We won’t reveal if you watch it before January 1st.
