When a work's copyright expires, it enters the public domain. The following is a list of works that entered the public domain in 2007. Since laws vary globally, the copyright status of some works are not uniform.
With the exception of Belarus (Life + 50 years) and Spain (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.[1] [2] The list is sorted alphabetically and includes a notable work of the creator that entered the public domain on January 1, 2007.
| Names | Country | Birth | Death | Occupation | Notable work | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| James Churchward | occult writer. | The Lost Continent of Mu, the Motherland of Men, The Children of Mu | ||||
| Ramón del Valle-Inclán | dramatist, novelist. | El marqués de Bradomín. Coloquios románticos (The Marquis of Bradomin. Romantic meetings), Bohemian Lights | ||||
| Mateiu Caragiale | novelist, poet. | Craii de Curtea-Veche (Rakes of the Old Court), Remember | ||||
| Rudyard Kipling | novelist, poet, short-story writer. | The Jungle Book, The Second Jungle Book | ||||
| Elizabeth Robins Pennell | art critic, biographer, memoirist, travel writer. | Nights: Rome & Venice in the Aesthetic Eighties, London & Paris in the Fighting Nineties | ||||
| Rahel Sanzara | novelist. | Das verlorene Kind (The Lost Child), Die glückliche Hand | ||||
| Lidia Veselitskaya | novelist, short-story writer, memoirist, translator. | Mimi's Marriage, Mimi at the Springs, Mimi Poisons Herself | ||||
| Mikhail Kuzmin | musician, novelist, poet. | Wings, Alexandrian Songs | ||||
| A. de Herz | playwright, poet, short-story writer. | Păianjenul (The Spider), Noaptea Învierii (Resurrection Night) | ||||
| Marguerite Durand | journalist, pamphlet writer. | founder of the newspaper La Fronde (The Sling) | ||||
| A. E. Housman | classical scholar, poet. | A Shropshire Lad, Last Poems | ||||
| Robert E. Howard | sword and sorcery writer. | The Hour of the Dragon, Worms of the Earth | ||||
| M. R. James | ghost story writer, medievalist, antiquarian. | Ghost Stories of an Antiquary, More Ghost Stories | ||||
| Karl Kraus | essayist, playwright, poet, satirist. | Die letzten Tage der Menschheit (The Last Days of Mankind), Literatur oder man wird doch da sehn (Literature, or You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet) | ||||
| G. K. Chesterton | mystery writer, philosopher, lay theologian, apologist. | The Napoleon of Notting Hill, The Man Who Was Thursday | ||||
| Maxim Gorky | novelist, playwright, poet, short-story writer. | The Life of Klim Samgin, The Artamonov Business | ||||
| Donald Maxwell | travel writer, illustrator. | regular illustrator for the newspapers The Graphic and Church Times | ||||
| F. J. Harvey Darton | literary historian, novelist, publisher. | The Story of English Children's Books in England: Five Centuries of Social Life, Alibi Pilgrimage | ||||
| Mourning Dove | Western novelist, folklore writer. | Cogewea, Coyote Stories | ||||
| Grazia Deledda | novelist. | After the Divorce, Canne al vento (Reeds in the wind) | ||||
| Federico García Lorca | playwright, poet. | The Butterfly's Evil Spell, The Billy-Club Puppets | ||||
| Juliette Adam | novelist, memoirist. | Mes premières armes littéraires et politiques, Mes sentiments et nos idées avant 1870 | ||||
| J. Slauerhoff | novelist, poet. | Het verboden rijk (The forbidden kingdom), Oost-Azië (East Asia) | ||||
| Stefan Grabiński | horror writer. | Z Wyjątków. W Pomrokach Wiary (Exceptions: In the Dark of Faith), Na Wzgórzu Róż (On the Hill of Roses) | ||||
| Luigi Pirandello | dramatist, novelist, poet, short-story writer. | The Late Mattia Pascal, Six Characters in Search of an Author | ||||
| Frances Garnet Wolseley, 2nd Viscountess Wolseley | gardening writer. | Gardening for Women, Women on the Land | ||||
| Kristína Royová | novelist, poet. | Bez Boha na svete (Without God in the world), Bludári (Heretics) | ||||
| John Cornford | poet. | Full Moon At Tierz | ||||
| Miguel de Unamuno | classics scholar, novelist, playwright, philosopher. | , Mist |
In most countries of Africa and Asia, as well as Belarus, Bolivia, Canada, New Zealand, Egypt and Uruguay; a work enters the public domain 50 years after the creator's death.
| Names | Country | Birth | Death | Occupation | Notable work | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wickham Steed |  United Kingdom | historian, journalist. | Hitler Whence and Whither?, The Meaning of Hitlerism | |||
| Sheila Kaye-Smith | United Kingdom | novelist. | Joanna Godden, The End of the House of Alard | |||
| H. L. Mencken |  United States | cultural critic, essayist, satirist. | The American Language, The Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche | |||
| A. A. Milne | United Kingdom | novelist, playwright, poet. | Winnie-the-Pooh, The House at Pooh Corner | |||
| Edmund Clerihew Bentley | United Kingdom | humorist, mystery novelist, poet. | Trent's Last Case, Trent's Own Case | |||
| Arthur Talmage Abernethy | United States | poet, theologian. | The Hell You Say!: A Novel, The Jew a Negro; Being a Study of the Jewish Ancestry from an Impartial Standpoint | |||
| Max Beerbohm | United Kingdom | caricaturist, humorist, novelist, parodist. | Zuleika Dobson, The Happy Hypocrite | |||
| Ion Călugăru |  Romania | novelist, short-story writer. | Copilăria unui netrebnic (The Childhood of a Ne'er-do-well), Oțel și pîine (Steel and Bread) | |||
| Walter de la Mare | United Kingdom | children's writer, horror writer. | Memoirs of a Midget, Collected Stories for Children | |||
| Nicos Nicolaides |  Greece | dramatist, short-story writer, painter. | To Stravoxylo (The Peevish Fellow), O Skelethras Diegimata B (The Skeleton Short Stories'. Book 2) | |||
| Gottfried Benn |  Germany | essayist, poet. | Morgue und andere Gedichte (Morgue and other Poems), Doppelleben (Double Life) | |||
| Giovanni Papini |  Italy | novelist, short-story writer, philosopher. | Gog, Il crepuscolo dei filosofi (The Twilight of the Philosophers) | |||
| Jackson Pollock | United States | Painter | ||||
| Bertolt Brecht | Germany | playwright, poet. | The Threepenny Opera, The Flight Across the Ocean | |||
| Michael Ventris | United Kingdom | classics scholar, philologist. | Documents in Mycenaean Greek, Introducing the Minoan Language | |||
| A. L. Zissu | Romania | dramatist, essayist, novelist, polemicist. | Nu există cult mozaic (No Such Thing as a Mosaic Religion), Calea Calvarului (The Path of Calvary) | |||
| Hans Carossa | Germany | novelist, poet. | Stella Mystica, Ungleiche Welten (Unequal Worlds) | |||
| Pío Baroja |  Spain | novelist. | The Tree of Knowledge, Memorias de un Hombre de Acción (Memories of a Man of Action) | |||
| Pío Baroja | Spain | novelist. | The Tree of Knowledge, Memorias de un Hombre de Acción (Memories of a Man of Action) | |||
| B. R. Ambedkar |  India | economist, political writer, journal writer. | , The Buddha and His Dhamma | |||
| Arthur Grimble | United Kingdom | travel writer, memoirist. | A Pattern of Islands, Return to the Islands | |||
| Robert Walser |  Switzerland | novelist, poet, short-story writer. | Jakob von Gunten, Der Gehülfe (The Assistant) |
See also: Public domain in the United States. In the United States, the copyright status of works extends for the life of the author or artists, plus 70 years.[3] [4] If the work is owned by a corporation, then the copyright extends 95 years.[5]
Due to the passing of the Copyright Term Extension Act (Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act) in 1998, no new works would enter the public domain in this jurisdiction until 2019.[6]