What becomes public domain in 2025? Popeye, 'A Farewell to Arms' among the most famous

A new year means a new start, and for some pieces of media, it means entering the public domain. In 2024, one of the most famous additions to the public domain was the first iteration of Mickey Mouse, which lost copyright protection.

But 2025 is not far behind with several iconic books, characters and more freely available for public use. This year will see works from 1929 and sound recordings from 1924 entering the public domain. 

Some of the most iconic works that will be free to use this year include Ernest Hemingway’s “A Farewell to Arms” and the original Popeye, but these are just the beginning.

Here is a list of intellectual property entering the public domain this year.

What is entering the public domain in 2025?

Although this is not a full list of works, here are some of the most notable examples, according to the Center for the Study of the Public Domain at Duke University. One of the films entering the public domain is the first sound film of Alfred Hitchcock’s career, among others.

• William Faulkner, "The Sound and the Fury"
• Ernest Hemingway, "A Farewell to Arms"
• Virginia Woolf, "A Room of One's Own"
• John Steinbeck, "Cup of Gold"
• "Blackmail," directed by Alfred Hitchcock 
• "The Black Watch," directed by John Ford 
• "Dynamite," directed by Cecil B. DeMille
• "Hergé" (Georges Remi), "Tintin" (in “Les Aventures de Tintin” from the magazine Le Petit Vingtième)
• E. C. Segar, Popeye (in “Gobs of Work” from the Thimble Theatre comic strip)
• "Singin’ in the Rain," lyrics by Arthur Freed, music by Nacio Herb Brown

What is the public domain?

According to the Center for the Study of the Public Domain, works that enter the public domain can be legally shared without permission or fees. As part of their “freeing,” the works can be shared in online repositories like the Internet Archive.

Works enter the public domain after their copyright protection expires, the length of which varies. According to the U.S. Copyright Office, the term lasts for 95 years for works published or registered before 1978. 

For works registered after 1978, copyright protections last for the author’s lifetime plus 70 years.

Fernando Cervantes Jr. is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach him at [email protected] and follow him on X @fern_cerv_.