2026 in public domain

In most countries of Africa and Asia, as well as Belarus, Bolivia, and New Zealand; a work enters the public domain 50 years after the creator's death. ==Entering the public domain in countries with life + 60 years==

In Bangladesh, India, and Venezuela a work enters the public domain 60 years after the creator's death. ==Entering the public domain in countries with life + 70 years==

entered the public domain in Europe in 2026. He is also part of the first wave of authors to enter the public domain in Australia in twenty years. With the exception of Belarus (Life + 50 years) and Spain (which has a copyright term of Life + 80 years for creators that died before 1987), a work enters the public domain in Europe 70 years after the creator's death, if it was published during the creator's lifetime. For previously unpublished material, those who publish it first will have the publication rights for 25 years. The same term applies in much of South America, and parts of western Africa. As such, the works of all authors who died in 1955 entered the European public domain in 2026. 2026 marks the first year since 2005 that works entered the public domain in Australia, which changed its copyright term length from a "plus 50" law to a "plus 70" law in 2004, as stated in Australia's own section below. One of the most significant authors whose works entered the European public domain in 2026 is German writer Thomas Mann, whose novels (Buddenbrooks, Doctor Faustus, and others) are known for their high symbolism and their insight into the psychology of the artist and the intellectual. Other notable examples of authors whose works entered the public domain include French writer Léon Werth, Italian writer , British writer Clemence Housman, American writers James Agee (the author of A Death in the Family) and Dale Carnegie (the author of How to Win Friends and Influence People), Space Lawyer author Nat Schachner, poets Wallace Stevens and Paul Claudel, Swiss composer Arthur Honegger, Italian composer Francesco Balilla Pratella, Russian composer Isaak Dunayevsky, "Charleston" writer James P. Johnson, American film director Lloyd Bacon and screenwriters William C. deMille and Robert Riskin, and French artists Yves Tanguy and Fernand Léger. The works of Spanish philosopher José Ortega y Gasset also entered the public domain in European countries other than his native Spain. The publications of physicist Albert Einstein, physician Sir Alexander Fleming, mathematician Hermann Weyl, and economist Herbert Stanley Jevons additionally entered the public domain. ==Entering the public domain in countries with life + 80 years==

Spain has a copyright term of life + 80 years for creators that died before 1987. In Colombia and Equatorial Guinea, a work enters the public domain 80 years after the creator's death. ==Russia and Ukraine==

Russia has a copyright term of life + 70 years in general, with two special provisions: • extra 4 years for those who fought in or worked during the so-called Great Patriotic War (that is, the Eastern Front of World War II), and/or • copyright term starting from the date of rehabilitation for unlawfully prosecuted and posthumously rehabilitated. Ukraine also has a special provision that the copyright term starts from the date of rehabilitation for unlawfully prosecuted and posthumously rehabilitated, which applies only to authors who died in 1951 or later. ==Australia==

In 2004 copyright in Australia changed from a "plus 50" law to a "plus 70" law, in line with the United States and the European Union. But the change was not made retroactive (unlike the 1995 change in the European Union which brought some (British and possibly other) authors back into copyright, especially those who died from 1925 to 1944). Hence, the work of an author who died before 1955 is normally in the public domain in Australia; but the copyright of authors was extended to 70 years after death for those who died in 1955 or later. 2026 was the first year since 2005 that new Australian authors came out of copyright, with those who died in 1955. Specific Australian authors whose works entered the public domain this year include writer Charles Shaw and artists John Radecki and Antonio Dattilo Rubbo. Copyright for Australian newspaper content originally published in 1955 also expired on 1 January 2026, which now allows content from 1955 newspapers to be published on Trove, the National Library of Australia's online database. ==Canada==

In 2022, copyright in Canada changed from a "plus 50" law to a "plus 70" law, in line with the United States and the European Union. But the change, like Australia's before it, was not made retroactive. No more new Canadian authors will come out of copyright until 1 January 2043 (those who died in 1972). Crown copyright was not changed, thus any government works published in 1974 entered the public domain in 2025. ==United States==

'' by Dashiell Hammett Under the Copyright Term Extension Act, books published in 1930, films released in 1930, and other works published in 1930, entered the public domain in 2026. Unpublished works whose authors died in 1955 also entered the public domain. Other notable literary works of fiction that entered the public domain include Christie's other novels The Mysterious Mr. Quin and ''Giant's Bread (the latter of which she wrote pseudonymously as "Mary Westmacott"); The Documents in the Case'' co-written by Sayers and Robert Eustace; John Dickson Carr's first detective novel It Walks By Night; the mystery and crime novels Mystery Mile by Margery Allingham, The French Powder Mystery by Ellery Queen, Enter the Saint by Leslie Charteris, and The Door by Mary Roberts Rinehart; the original serialized version of Max Brand's Destry Rides Again; the dramas The Green Pastures by Marc Connelly, Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny and The Decision by Bertolt Brecht (the former co-written with Kurt Weill) in their original German, The Human Voice by Jean Cocteau in its original French, and The Barretts of Wimpole Street by Rudolf Besier; the children's books The Tale of Little Pig Robinson by Beatrix Potter and The Yellow Knight of Oz by Ruth Plumly Thompson; Nancy Drew's next three stories The Hidden Staircase, The Bungalow Mystery, and The Mystery at Lilac Inn; The Hardy Boys' story The Great Airport Mystery; Hart Crane's long poem "The Bridge"; the Collected Poems of Robert Frost; W. H. Auden's first major poetry collection, simply called Poems; and the first English translations of Franz Kafka's The Castle and Hermann Sudermann's The Excursion to Tilsit. Notable nonfiction entrants to the public domain include William Empson's Seven Types of Ambiguity (a foundational work of literary criticism), Ronald Fisher's The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection, The Lives of a Bengal Lancer by Francis Yeats-Brown, Memoirs of an Infantry Officer by Siegfried Sassoon, and The Mysterious Universe by James Jeans. in her earliest incarnation entered the U.S. public domain in 2026. Dave Fleischer's first four Betty Boop cartoons — Dizzy Dishes, Barnacle Bill, Accordion Joe, and Mysterious Mose — entered into the public domain, as did Hot Dog, the debut film of Bimbo. The 1930 Mickey Mouse cartoons entered the public domain this year as well, bringing with them the design of Pluto, who entered the public domain through his debut appearance in The Chain Gang (where he was an unnamed prison guard dog), and his second appearance as "Rover" (owned by Minnie Mouse) in The Picnic. Also entering the public domain were the Disney studio's second year of Silly Symphony shorts, and an Ub Iwerks cartoon character created independently of Disney: Flip the Frog, whose debut film Fiddlesticks was the first sound cartoon in color. The initial week of the Mickey Mouse comic strip and the first appearances of Chic Young's Blondie also entered the public domain, the Associated Press, Smithsonian Magazine, and the Los Angeles Times. ==See also==