Copyright Expiration is BACK!
Since 1998, when Disney (along with a group of other corporations) successfully convinced congress to pass an extension to the original copyright laws. The original laws state that any works created before January 1, 1978 were protected for 75 years. The change in 1998 extended that to 95 years. This is great for corporations like Disney who’s iconic character, Mickey Mouse, was first published in 1928 in Steamboat Willie. This averted releasing the character Mickey Mouse into the Public Domain in 2004. It is now scheduled to be moved to the Public Domain in 2024 and I’m sure we will see another fight similar to that in 1998 to extend copyright protection laws even further.
While these copyright protection laws protect anything that was published prior to January 1, 1978, everything published afterwards is protected for the lifetime of the creator plus 50 years. So, this article will be entering the Public Domain sometime after January 1, 2219 (hopefully later! Predicting your own death is a little morbid).
So we can rejoice that, as of this moment, anyone can publish Robert Frost’s Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening without fear of violating copyright laws as it is one of many works entering the Public Domain today!
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
By Robert Frost
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other soundโs the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.