Copyright in the US protects creators and protects culture

Alfred Hitchcock’s first blockbuster film, Sherlock Holmes’ collection of adventures, Louis Armstrong’s songs and thousands of classic films published in 1927 are now out of copyright. So they can be modified and everyone can enjoy them freely.

Every year, on 1st^R January, US copyright law puts a wide range of novels, songs and films into the public domain. This law protects both the livelihood of creators and the ability of future generations to use their works.

The 2023 selection of works published in 1927 includes the first detective novel in the series “The Hardy Boys”, a novel by Virginia Woolf. Walk towards the lighthouse (To the lighthouse), a famous science fiction film Metropolis Fritz Lang and the song “I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream”.

Jennifer Jenkins, director Center for Public Field Studies at Duke University*, films coming out of Hollywood and entering the public domain mark the transition from silent cinema to talkies.

Although songs that have entered the public domain include Broadway hits and jazz classics, only music and lyrics from 1923 or earlier are now copyright free: registrations will be open from next year.

When midnight strikes on January 1st, most works published in 1927 will enter the public domain in the United States. Celebrate these works at one of two Public Domain Day celebrations on January 19 & 20:https://t.co/xaq14l5gbD pic.twitter.com/aBuvjKDPSc

— Internet Archive (@internetarchive) December 26, 2022

The free use of artistic and literary works after a certain period of time is a fundamental principle of United States copyright law, which seeks to balance the right of creators to be compensated for their work and to protect future cultural artifacts. For generations to use and enjoy.

Rooted in the United States Constitution, copyright is a form of intellectual property law that protects authors’ original works, including poems, novels, songs, architectural structures, and computer software. Other forms of intellectual property law include: Patents and trademarks protecting inventions and logos or slogans used in advertising.

The two main features of copyright – the duration of exclusive rights, followed by freedom of use – each provide benefits to creators in their own way. On the one hand, as long as copyright is in effect, creators can get paid for their work.

“Good copyright protection is the cornerstone of creating professional works; it allows writers to earn a living by writing,” says the Authors Guild, the largest and oldest professional organization representing novelists, poets, historians and journalists in the United States.

On the other hand, the exclusion of literary and other works from intellectual property rights expands access to songs and written texts, which can inspire new works. Didn’t the famous literary critic Northrop Frye once say, “Poetry can only be written from other poems, novels can only be written from other novels”?

Jennifer Jenkins shares: “The public domain is also a source of creativity. “The purpose of copyright is to encourage creativity, and the public domain plays an important role in that,” he says.

*In English