Public Domain: Works out of Copyright in 2025 - Free Books!

[@Adeodatus100]

My take on copyright is that artists absolutely have the right to benefit from their work. Their children, possibly, arguably, have a similar right; but let their grandchildren work for their own money. As for corporations, they should just be grateful we're not at their doors with pitchforks and blazing torches.

[@GenreBooks23]

The 1931 "Frankenstein" film enters the Public Domain in 2027, so we can march on the corporations with pitchforks and torches without infringing the mob in that movie :)

[@Adeodatus100]

@GenreBooks23 True, we'd be wise to be cautious.

[@michaelk.vaughan8617]

I AM stupid enough to be on a book buying ban so I greatly appreciate this! Thanks! 😁

[@GenreBooks23]

You’re welcome. Your abstinence is an inspiration to us all. Or a warning. The jury’s out…

[@vilstef6988]

@michaelk.vaughn8617, Your good buddy Roger could recommend things hugely out of public domain. Damn near before the flood stuff!

[@vilstef6988]

Gavin, many thanks for championing Gutenberg and free works.

[@GenreBooks23]

Oh, it’s fun!

[@MrJoshinJosh]

In case you may not know about it, Mickey’s White Signature Gloves from 1929 are about to become Public Domain as well.

[@GenreBooks23]

Nice!

[@sleestack13]

I heard you say Robert Graves and had to look up when "I, Claudius" was written. It was 1934, so we have a few years yet on that classic. Interesting case with "The Sound and the Fury". Faulkner had always intended the multitudes of characters and time frames to be keyed by font AND color, but printing costs always prohibited multi-colored text. The Folio Society released a colored text edition years back, but that one is nearly $1,000 now, when you can find one. My thought is that with it being in the PD, someone is more apt to release a nice version like that. It would also be fairly easy to make the coloring edits for a very nice digital edition. We shall see.

[@GenreBooks23]

That's a good shout, I'd like to see that!

[@majkus]

Copyright is a _very_ curious thing: people act as if it is a victory for free trade, and yet it is a state-sanctioned monopoly. “He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me.” - Thomas Jefferson.

[@GenreBooks23]

There's something to be said for having it: if you had invented something you would not want it copied. But there has to be an expiration date!

[@franklarin8100]

Thank you for the info. Best wishes for 2025.

[@GenreBooks23]

You're welcome. Happy New Year!

[@RobinSongReads]

Man that’s a fascinating list! The Maltese Falcon is on my reading list so maybe it’ll be my first proper Project Gutenberg read. Thanks very much Gavin, cheers from the states

[@GenreBooks23]

You're welcome. Maltese Falcon is great, you'll love it.

[@dagmoon]

Your videos on Project Gutenberg was how I found your channel, so I was thrilled to see you do another! And some very exciting ones, indeed. Have you thought about tackling additional genres available at PG?

[@GenreBooks23]

I've done Fantasy, SF, Westerns, Horror, Sports, Victorian and Edwardian. Hopefully this coming year I can do Detective/Mystery, Adventure, Biography. Maybe Penny Dreadfuls and Dime Novels if I can fine enough..

[@dagmoon]

@@GenreBooks23 If you ever need some help, I'd be glad to give it a try. I love hunting for things like that. However, your results have been VERY impressive so I may be useless.

[@RaynorReadsStuff]

Great video Gavin. I do love your Gutenberg trawls. Some great books there😊

[@GenreBooks23]

Thanks Debs, and congratulations!

[@thomasrdiehl]

Afaik, Project Gutenbegr doesn't work by American copyright, but by international one. That means all their works have just one condition to enter the public domain: The creators need to be have been dead for 75 years (to the year, not the day). This also means the translation of All is Quiet on the Western Front might not com out on Gutenberg because that translation's copyright expiry is related to the death year of the translator.

[@GenreBooks23]

Interesting- so it would be available elsewhere, but not on PG! I will have to look at other places it might turn up..

[@thomasrdiehl]

@@GenreBooks23 Nevermind, the translator happens to have also died one year after the original author. I also just found out that the German Projekt Gutenberg is not the same project as Project Gutenberg, but a site with the same idea coincidentally using the same name. So, again, nevermind.

[@GenreBooks23]

To be fair to the Germans, they had the original Gutenberg :)

[@LL-bl8hd]

It's rather interesting how the works trickle into public domain at the rate they were published. It's almost like reliving the author's career.

[@GenreBooks23]

And a savvy estate or publicist would be using that!

[@MadTamB]

Looking forward to A farewell to Arms and Zombies.

[@GenreBooks23]

“All Zombies on the Western Front”..

[@MadTamB]

@@GenreBooks23 That one could work.

[@stuartgriffin1001]

I always felt a little sorry for the heirs of author when the copyright ended. Thanks for doing this video.

[@GenreBooks23]

I don’t know, if they’re savvy, there are ways to use the extra attention!

[@otakubullfrog1665]

I've always wanted to see copyright for new works brought more in line with patents where you would get fifteen years with the option to renew one time for another fifteen. Very few people are going to wait three decades to check out a hot new book (or movie, video game, etc.), so I think that still offers enough of an exclusivity window for most works to turn a profit if ever they could.

[@GenreBooks23]

That might work - but maybe at the end, if the creator wants to give it up, auction the rights and let them have one last payday!

[@timsmythfilmsandanimations]

@@GenreBooks23 The original US copyright was 14 years, and a 14 year renewal, if wanted. I like your idea of selling the rights after the first term, and that leaves the corporation only one term to profit and then they have to give it up. Nice,

[@faithbooks7906]

I need to figure out how to get Gutenberg works on my old kindle. Thanks for this list!

[@GenreBooks23]

Ah, there is a way - search for a small PC programme called "Send to Kindle". Depending on how old your eReader is, I would suggest downloading the file format "ePub - no pictures" from Gutenberg. Open "Send to Kindle" and simply drag the downloaded book onto the programme window. Give it the title and name and press "send". you have to have your Kindle linked (vi Wifi) to pick it up, but it will turn up a minute or so later. It's a free download (and the only freebie Jeff Bezos will ever give to you)!

[@vilstef6988]

On the download page @Gutenberg there is a link that says older Kindles.

[@dnel83]

Can you imagine if copyright was like patents: you actively apply for copyright and if youre no longer interested in maintaining it, you let it expire. Billions of works would be in the public domain and our culture would be so much richer for it. It would be nothing for Mouse corp to keep their works protected but instead we have this basic system that serves only the tiniest minority

[@GenreBooks23]

It’s a nice idea, except when some manager screws up and an artist finds their work in Public Domain: this used to happen a fair bit under the old rules!

[@dnel83]

@@GenreBooks23 it doesn't need to expire immediately, there might be a 5 year grace period during which time you can bet that someone will notice it is about to expire.

[@timsmythfilmsandanimations]

@@dnel83 The rest of the world, and in the US today, you do not need to apply for copyright, so why would you want to renew it? I agree the copyright term may be too long, but no need to add extra work.

[@dnel83]

@timsmythfilmsandanimations because for the sake of the 0.01% of works that are commercially valuable we lock away everything from the public domain for a century. It's not too much to ask someone to register a work and renew every 20 years or so actively keep it protected up to the end of their lifetime. If it isn't worth it then let someone else do something with it. Creative commons provides an alternative but it's still opt-in so very rarely adopted. I just think this provides a middle ground between those who want copyright forever and those who appreciate a healthy public domain.

[@MrJoshinJosh]

I just can’t wait for 17 more Disney Cartoons to officially become Buena Vista Distribution Free😊🙏🏻

[@GenreBooks23]

I feel fine about those old cartoons: it’s not like Ub Iwerks and the other animators got much credit at the time!

[@daveac]

Not gotten to the end yet - so you may cover this - but there was the issue a number of years back when 'Peter Pan' came out of copyright and it was a hospital I believe that was going to lose out. But then at the time there was a change in the length of time and the book came back into copyright for a number of extra years? Was it changed from 75 to 90? Will check other comments and may edit this post. Thanks for the video.

[@GenreBooks23]

In 1988 the UK government put a clause in the copyright and patents legislation exempting Peter Pan, so that royalties are paid to Great Ormond Street Hospital in perpetuity.

[@daveac]

@@GenreBooks23 Thanks for that info 🙂

[@constancecampbell4610]

Thank you!

[@GenreBooks23]

Thanks for watching!

[@anotherbibliophilereads]

Public Domain is such a thorny issue. I remember when the Sonny Bono copyright law extension law went into effect.

[@GenreBooks23]

I think the US actually has this broadly right at the moment. I don’t think anyone living should lose out on something they’ve created. I think 95-100 years also allows an artist to leave a legacy. The big battles are upcoming in the next decade, when a bunch of superheroes are going to enter Public Domain. It would be a good time to be a lawyer:)

[@anotherbibliophilereads]

@ There should be a rule that say if a book has been out of print for 20 years it automatically goes into public domain.

[@GenreBooks23]

@ “use it or lose it” definitely should be implemented. All the best laws rhyme.

[@filmbuffo5616]

Copyright periods differ for films, for recorded music and for published works; published works are protected for life of the author plus fifty or seventy years depending on where; films used to be 28 years after release with registered renewal for another 28, since extended to total 95 years automatically without registration for recorded music it's worse, anything recorded is not public domain until 2068 or some ridiculously far date in the future in contrast to the song or music itself, which is life of composer plus fifty or seventy years copyright periods for recorded music and film are different from that of published works is the point, and all can differ from country to country, not to mention in mechanisms of enforcement, which also differ from country to country

[@visionpiping1048]

Interesting, thank you

[@GenreBooks23]

Thanks!

[@M.J.Conway]

If you want a little light-hearted fantasy, Jack Pumpkinhead of Oz by Ruth Plumly Thompson (the Oz series #23) is joining the public domain. Nice little Halloween-themed adventure.

[@GenreBooks23]

Yes! I picked those books out on a previous Gutenberg "Fantasy" video - there'll be more added each year for a while!

[@andeeharry]

Tarzan huh....now you mention this, there is a horror lined up for him as well. Apparently the 1912 book Tarzan of the Apes is going for a rebrand retelling of some horror related thing.

[@GenreBooks23]

Ugh! I’m going to create a piece where public domain heroes track down and deal with hack writers :)

[@andeeharry]

@@GenreBooks23 I hear you and that's a good idea, since Popeye is now horror too

[@Yellowblam]

Great information. Many thanks.

[@GenreBooks23]

You’re welcome, thanks!

[@jeffreybarker357]

Writers everywhere are starting re-tellings right now because of this video.

[@GenreBooks23]

What have I done?!

[@palmercolson7037]

We should not feel to bad for the authors and their heirs who are loosing copyright in 2025 (presuming copyright lapses at 100 years). If the author was 25 when the copyright was created, the author would be 125 years old now. If their first child was born in 1930 and the last in 1950, the oldest child is 90 years old and the last child is 70 years old in 2025. They should have received all that they were due through out the 20th century and the first two decades of the 21st century. If the copyrighted material was ignored for 70 years, that is not a problem. The copyright is an exclusive right for a period of time, not a guarantee of money.

[@filmbuffo5616]

It is an exclusive right for the chance to make money from the work, which is created and reserved by law for the creator of the copyrighted work - but it can be sold or rented out or even given away by that creator, too. It's a kind of property.

[@GenreBooks23]

I don’t think you should overlook that a work entering the Public Domain will also meet an uptick of interest in that creator that can still benefit the estate.

[@1701Tex]

NICE collection of Ballantine Adult Fantasy books there on screen right. SUBSCRIBED!

[@GenreBooks23]

Thanks, as thanks!

[@timsmythfilmsandanimations]

The point of copyright was to get creatives to create work, ... This is from the Constitution "To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;" This limited time I think was supposed to encourage those same writers to do it again, and again, as opposed to writing one hit, and receiving money for it for the rest of their lives, and the lives of their children, and their children's children.As I don't have children, maybe I don't quite get it either, but I think the original 14 year term seems fine, if I can't make money on my new project in 14 years, there is a good chance I won't if you add on a few months, years, or a hundred years. Also as related to films, how many films form 1929 have ceased to exist completely over the last 40 years, with the copyright term extensions? It is a tricky situation, and corporations like Disney don't help, as it is hard to feel anything for them as they are so far removed from the folks that actually created the works. and come off as just entitled, and greedy, especially when that company in particular made so much money off of public domain works. Also, concept of the public domain might go back to Roman times. Source en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain Really good video by the way, thumbs up, but a tricky conversation. Heck, even my own family can't agree on it. Thanks, and sorry for the long comment.

[@GenreBooks23]

Thanks! It can get complex, but I do agree with what you say about not passing it down in perpetuity. Whether anyone has the right length of time, I don't know, but it ought not to be decided by who has the most expensive lawyers...

[@KatJack-vl8xj]

I regularly find Amazon trying to sell classics that I know are on Gutenberg. Today it was The Europeans by Henry James...

[@GenreBooks23]

Yep, and it's not like the layout on the cheapy Amazon ones is any better!

[@rjcurrie61]

Amazon Canada has a $0.00 Kindle edition of The Europeans. There are are also a few Kindle editions that sell for like $1-3. I'm pretty sure that Amazon themselves makes the free version while others publishers create s the paid version. It is also my understanding that a publisher cannot charge for an ebook of a public domain title unless they add original material like a study guide, illustrations, historical essays, and so on. I don't think I've ever looked for a kindle version of a public domain book on Amazon and not found at least one free version.

[@KatJack-vl8xj]

@@rjcurrie61 I don't know if different country websites of Amazon have individual policies, but I just noted today that on Amazon US there is an ebook of Elmer Gantry by Sinclair Lewis being sold for 49 cents; it is available on Gutenberg. There is no corresponding free version offered. Now, I have seen books offered for free on Amazon US but never noted if they were on Gutenberg or not. But I checked today and found an ebook of William Bligh's account of the Bounty and it includes the following language:"This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery." However in this ccase there was no charge for "wireless delivery." On another note, I've found that if a book is not offered on Gutenberg, you can often find it on other websites such as Internet Archive, fadedpage or Global Grey ebooks,

[@NeilWick]

Anyone is allowed to sell a public domain book for any price. I recently went looking for "Life and Adventures of Santa Claus." The Project Gutenberg files I tried didn't have the original illustrations I wanted. I saw this on at least one version that is sold on Amazon for free: "This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery."

[@thomasrdiehl]

They don't. If they are by Amazon, they are free. The paid ones are made by publishers selling on Amazon.

[@PeculiarNotions]

Thank you for sharing this list, and I agree with you about LLM. It is theft at such a scale and a crime so large we don't have a name for it yet.

[@GenreBooks23]

Yes it gets to be a real grey area. If I were to write a book, a pastiche of a particular author or certain sub-genre, I would not really be doing much different to the LLM. What's different is i would have paid for the books when I readd them! I'm happy just calling it theft, for no other reason..

[@filmbuffo5616]

@@GenreBooks23 AI works do not carry copyright, the judges have ruled they lack the creative element or originality which must always be necessarily present to copyright any work whatsoever. Any work lacking that originality or creative element could never be copyrighted under the law in the past, and that requirement still exists.

[@clarepotter7584]

Thanks.

[@GenreBooks23]

You're welcome - already looking forward to 2026...

[@richardthompson1138]

"A.I. slop." You tell 'em, Gavin!

[@GenreBooks23]

I can't claim to have invented that phrase! But it's so easy to recognise AI art when you see it - for a technology that has devoured every piece of man-made art to use current models can only push out half a dozen styles :)

[@AndrewHalliwell]

Of course,it's a longer wait for us Brits, because copyright doesn't expire until 70 years after the author's death. Publication date has nothing to do with it unless all rights were acquired by a corporation.

[@GenreBooks23]

Indeed, but with most sites looking to abide by the US laws, I don't think I've ever been blocked from accessing one that might not be PD in the UK yet!

[@AndrewHalliwell]

@@GenreBooks23 Yes, but there's a lot more to the public domain than just access to free books. You could write sequels and spinoffs to your heart's content and publish them for money without the authorisation of the author's estate. Once something's in public domain, the original owners lose all control over it. I think there's only one exception in the UK. Peter Pan, because al proceeds go to Great Ormond St Hospital.

[@timflatus]

UK copyright is 70 years after the composers' death or 70 years after publication, so that's anyone who died before 1955. Where do you get 95 years from, is that US copyright? No "w" - it's a right, not a craft. Looking forward to "Goodbye To All That".

[@GenreBooks23]

Argh - thanks for the spelling spot! 95 years is the US law. I picked that because it's the longest (so I don't tell people something is the PD when it's not in their jurisdiction), and also because that's the rule which Project Gutenberg adheres to. In Australia (and possibly Canada) I think it's fifty years. As usual, no-one can agree on anything!

[@andyleighton3616]

Yeah I think 95 years is a US thing - after 1923 works were copyright for 28 years, and if you renewed it you got longer. A series of law changes made that last period pub date + 95 years. PG generally go for 95+ years unless there is good evidence that the work is free of copyright. Things like Christie and Allingham are still in copyright in the UK (and Christie will be until 2047) however PG is hosted in the US and they are free to host the works which are copyright free in the US (I presume scanned and proofed from the US first eds). Different PGs (Australia, Canada) have different rules life+70 for new works (but life+50 for some earlier works). It is technically against the law to download stuff like the Allingham and Christie in the UK and it is also against the terms and conditions of PG. However I don't think people will be checking up on you.

[@andyleighton3616]

@@GenreBooks23 No Australia and Canada are life+70 now like the UK and EU. The only difference is that when they brought that in they didn't retrospectively apply it like us. So there are some works which are still life+50 (those where the author died before 1955 Australia or 1972 Canada). The US changed to Life+70 in 1978 but that only applies to works published since 1977. Not to the earlier works. So PG's pub+95 will work for quite a few more years in the US. Life+70 is often longer than pub+95

[@timflatus]

@@GenreBooks23 fair enough, thanks for clarifying, it can be important to know where you stand on copyright.

[@GenreBooks23]

@@andyleighton3616odd that it isn’t retrospective. Thanks for the detail!

[@portland-182]

The irony of Disney being litigious over Mickey Mouse, when Mickey Mouse was originally a rip off of an existing character, that Universal Studios owned 'Oswald The Lucky Rabbit'.

[@LynnHermione]

No it's not 😂

[@GenreBooks23]

I did like it when Oswald returned for a cameo in the Mickey short "Get a Horse" a few years back. I think Disney ended up buying the rights back so they could do the "Epic Mickey" games..

[@liljenborg2517]

Oswald was originally created by Disney while under contract with Universal. As the character became popular, Disney tried to negotiate a bigger cut of Oswald’s box office success. Universal refused and thus Disney went independent with Mickey Mouse. Thus, Disney got treated by Universal the same way Disney now treats artists like Ditko and Kirby. Disney got the rights back for Epic Mickey by trading the (unused by Universal since the 1930s) rights for Oswald in return for Al Michaels going to NBC for Sunday Night Football. It does create an interesting story point for Epic Mickey that Oswald is jealous that all of Mickey’s fame could have been his if only Universal hadn’t screwed over Disney they way Disney routinely screws over its artists. Oswald is now, technically, in the public domain, too. Which is why Disney hasn’t done very much with him since they got him back. Literally nothing they do with him now will be fully copyrightable, nor, since he’s not really identified with the company, can they try to use trademark to keep other people from using him the way they’ve been trying to use it with Mickey.

[@timsmythfilmsandanimations]

@@liljenborg2517 Actually Universal did not refuse Disney anything, it was the producer who owned the rights to Oswald, and he wanted Disney to stay, just not to run the show, and he hired all of the artists away from Disney, and wanted Disney also to take a cut in pay for the shorts. I doubt Disney is a great place to work for creatives, unless they are fine with work for hire. Ditko was an adult, he knew what he was doing. Should he have gotten a big payday out of Disney, sure, and maybe his estate did? We will never know what the settlement was for all the Marvel artists. I agree with the rest.

[@LynnHermione]

Dude. The new Mickey cartoons are AMAZING. If you are too old to get it just dont comment on it.

[@GenreBooks23]

"Lonesome Ghosts" and "Clock Cleaners" are the high-water mark for MM and crew - although the animation studio even then was a complete production line, it just doesn't look like it.

[@Andorian323]

Jeez, you take a long time to get to the point.

[@GenreBooks23]

Then you'll love kzbin.info/www/bejne/mJ24Y56woZhrj9k ;)

[@GenreBooks23]

@ it’s 45 minutes of me talking about Shakespeare history plays, so I suppose it depends on your definition of virus :)