‘Great Gatsby,’ Ma Rainey, Irving Berlin enter public domain

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海角精品黑料's Jason Fraley highlights public domain works (Part 1)

Let your creative juices flow! You can now adapt certain classic works without worrying about getting sued.

That’s because on Jan.聽1, 2021, copyrighted works from 1925 officially entered the U.S. public domain, meaning theaters can screen the films, musicians can sample the music and authors can adapt the books.

Works from 1925 were originally supposed to enter the public domain after 75 years in 2001, but Congress paused the law and extended the copyright term to 95 years, hence the 2021 release.

Find the full list of newly public domain works on the Duke University .

See highlights below.

1/17

F. Scott Fitzgerald – 鈥淭he Great Gatsby鈥�

2/17

Virginia Woolf – 鈥淢rs. Dalloway鈥�

3/17

Ernest Hemingway – 鈥淚n Our Time鈥�

4/17

Franz Kafka – 鈥淭he Trial鈥�

5/17

Theodore Dreiser – 鈥淎n American Tragedy鈥�

6/17

Alain Locke – 鈥淭he New Negro鈥�

7/17

Agatha Christie – 鈥淭he Secret of Chimneys鈥�

8/17

Irving Berlin – 鈥淎lways鈥�

9/17

Ma Rainey – 鈥淎rmy Camp Harmony Blues鈥�

10/17

George & Ira Gershwin – 鈥淟ooking for a Boy鈥�

11/17

W.C. Handy – 鈥淔riendless Blues鈥�

12/17

Duke Ellington – 鈥淛ig Walk鈥�

13/17

Fats Waller – 鈥淏all and Chain Blues鈥�

14/17

Henry King – 鈥淪tella Dallas鈥�

15/17

Erich von Stroheim鈥檚鈥淭he Merry Widow鈥�

16/17

Harold Lloyd – 鈥淭he Freshman鈥�

17/17

Buster Keaton – 鈥淕o West鈥�

Why isn’t Charlie Chaplin’s “The Gold Rush” (1925) listed in this year’s batch? Turns out, the film’s聽copyright wasn鈥檛 renewed after the initial 28-year term, so it has already been in the public domain for decades.

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海角精品黑料's Jason Fraley highlights public domain works (Part 2)

Jason Fraley

Hailed by The Washington Post for 鈥渉is savantlike ability to name every Best Picture winner in history," Jason Fraley began at 海角精品黑料 as Morning Drive Writer in 2008, film critic in 2011 and Entertainment Editor in 2014, providing daily arts coverage on-air and online.

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