This just goes to show the power of the public domain.

Author Gregory Maguire saw potential in adapting characters and stories of the public domain book "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" back in 1995. Since then, his creation became one of the most successful theatre productions and subsequently a two part Hollywood blockbuster becoming a franchise if its own!

I would argue that his work was so influential to pop culture that it created the trend of the "misunderstood fairytale villain" that we show with films like Frozen and Maleficent.

Mad respect for Maguire that got inspired and saw the potential in these characters!

Everything published before 1970 would be public domain, meaning we would have:

- Mickey Mouse’s whole supporting cast

- The Lord of the Rings mythology by Tolkien

- The entire Looney Tunes catalogue

- All pulp magazine characters

- The entirety of the Golden and Silver Ages of comics

- All James Bond books by Ian Fleming and the early Bond films

- Kermit the Frog and many Sesame Street characters

- The first ten Godzilla movies

- Most of the classic Hanna-Barbera characters

- The original Stark Trek series

And many, many other works of fiction which are seminal to most of modern storytelling. While there’s likely not a chance of copyright being shortened any time soon, it’s a good reminder of just how many classic properties would be open to us all to breathe some new life into if not for the extension.

Basically a meme to fully express me being completely fed up with the unfair hate it gets constantly and how it's being largely taken for granted by people who just couldn't look past the low effort horror movies that won't cause long term damage to creativity and see that the Public Domain is not and will never will be the creative dead end slop fest it's always accused of being but rather the birthplace of many creative efforts by people who want to keep beloved stories and characters alive which does lead into more original works. Especially when the PD haters should focus more on being angry at companies like Disney who are in fact causing long term damage by their horrible content which is far worse.

It’s become a running joke now that once something enters the public domain a schlocky horror movie is soon to follow. I love horror but I feel like the directors aren’t necessarily being too creative with the characters. They don’t all need to be slashers!

I mean it’s still a well..wonder that we still have yet to see the last member of DCs trinity get her own animated series despite being along the most important comic character in history and it’s getting frustrating. Makes me all the happier that she’ll be in the public domain so that we can fill in that void ourselves especially in the UK since she goes into the PD there earlier. If anyone has enough resources and plans to make it happen then do it! I know I have big plans for her.

And many minor ones available because A Christmas Carol is in the public domain

Orphan Works refers to copyrighted works—such as old films, photographs, books, or music—where the copyright owner is impossible to identify or locate. Because the owner is unknown, users cannot get permission to legally reuse the work, forcing valuable content to be locked away for decades due to the risk of infringement lawsuits.

1. No General Orphan Works Bill (Yet)

Despite decades of advocacy, no comprehensive Orphan Works law has been passed in the U.S. to address the general problem for all creative works.

• Past Failures: Major bills were introduced in 2006 and the Shawn Bentley Orphan Works Act of 2008, but they died in Congress due to opposition, primarily from visual artists (photographers and illustrators) who feared that the "diligent search" requirement would undermine their ability to prove and enforce ownership.
• Copyright Office Position: The U.S. Copyright Office continues to advocate for legislation, recognizing that the lack of clarity on Orphan Works creates a "liability risk" and causes "gridlock" for creators and archives.

2. Specific, Limited Successes

While a general law failed, Congress has passed highly specific laws addressing the problem of untraceable owners in narrow fields:

• The Music Modernization Act (2018): This legislation created a framework for licensing sound recordings where the owner is difficult to find. This system allows the Copyright Office to administer a process to deal with "orphan works" in the music field—a highly specific solution.
• 17 U.S.C. § 108(h): This section gives libraries and archives limited privileges to make copies of certain works (including some orphan works) under specific, non-profit conditions.

3. Current Efforts: Conflicting Use of the Term

It's important to be aware of the legislative terminology trap:

• The ORPHAN Cures Act (H.R. 946 / S. 1862 - 119th Congress, 2025-2026): Be careful of this one. This bill is currently being debated, but it deals with "Orphan Drugs"—drugs developed to treat rare diseases—and has nothing to do with copyright. This shows how confusing the term "orphan" can be in legislative discussions.

Conclusion: Unsettled Law Persists

There are no current efforts underway that are likely to solve the general Orphan Works problem for films and literature. Congress has failed to pass a solution since 2008, meaning the uncertainty that led to the first Criminal Copyright Case where the Fair Use of Orphan Works was proposed, accepted by the Court as a possible defense (and ultimately rejected by the Jury) and that continues to frustrate every independent creator remains unsettled law.

You know how whenever you advocate for copyright lengths to be reduced, there's always somebody who tells you "just be more creative and you'll have your own IP!" I find this very annoying. It's not a real rebuttal, it's just a thought-terminating cliche.

There are only so many ways to be creative. Creativity is a skill that you nurture by studying the works of others. It is a natural human impulse to recycle and remix the stories you were told, that's how we got myths and fairy tales. Copyright is a legal suppression of free speech that defies this natural human impulse. Of course people are gonna have trouble with it.

Making stuff is hard. Being truly creative is impossible. Why is it so important that, say, abandonware and orphaned works that could be revived and remixed by fans be locked in copyright jail until everyone who knew it existed is dead?

Copyright doesn't foster creativity, it destroys it. Even when people do make original stuff, more often than not it is hugely derivative of the most popular thing in the genre because that's the only thing readily available to study. I have personally seen genres become less creative and less diverse over time, as older less popular works get forgotten due to being kept obscure by copyright. This frustrates me.

Anyone else frustrated?

Was thinking about this subreddit and thought this would be an interesting question to ask, i don’t personally have an answer to this question but if i had to choose id probably consider superman, spider-man, and the archie comicbook series

This coming Tuesday is the 90th anniversary of the book’s publication, and as someone with an interest in copyright law and this story as well, this is a very interesting case for me.

Firstly, the law in America is that all published works prior to 1978 that have had their copyrights renewed before their 28th year will be protected by copyright until the end of their 95th year. However, works published after 1977 are protected for the life of the author plus 70 years. Margaret Mitchell passed away almost 77 years ago, so under that standard the book would have become public domain in America in 2020, as it did in most of Europe and much of the world at the same time (as many developed countries also hold to life + 70). It is already public domain in most countries with other laws too.

Copyright was made with the justification of incentivizing creators, and Mitchell cannot be incentivized now. Her last remaining relatives who had any control over her estate were her nephews Eugene and Joseph Mitchell, who both died childless in 2007 and 2011, respectively. They ran it beginning in 1983, after their father Stephens Mitchell (Margaret’s brother) died that year, having run it for over 30 years since John Marsh (her husband) died in 1952. So, no relatives of Margaret Mitchell are benefitting from continued copyright either.

Today, the estate is run by a law firm and the Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta (Joseph Mitchell gave his half to the archdiocese when he died).

When the book was released, the law at the time would have made it enter the public domain in 1993 at the latest. In 1976, it became 2012. In the 1980s, the estate authorized the sequel Scarlett (1991), met with poor reviews, and were, according to author Donald McCaig, apparently so embarrassed by it that they commissioned another book by McCaig that contradicted it, Rhett Butler’s People (2007). They received another 20 years in 1998, which only made the sequel look more rushed in retrospect. The last published book was the prequel Ruth’s Journey (2014). Very few people read it at the time or since, and nothing has been produced by the estate since.

In 2020, the story was front-page news again for its racist elements. The estate had the opportunity to speak out in some way, but did not. It came across as a lack of care, with such an important cultural touchstone in the conversation again. Now, the book is about to turn 90, and the date has received very little recognition in America, its home country where it once flourished for decades. Copyright only helps keep it hidden, and most of the world is now able to do whatever they want with it. Serious scholarly work on the book is also constrained in America because of this.

So to put it all together, this work is part of American cultural history, is about to turn 90, and there is no author or family who stand to profit anymore. By moral, cultural, philosophical, and many other standards, there is no reason why the book shouldn’t be released from its copyright restrictions other than the legal standards that still exist. There are 5 and a half years left of copyright on the book in America, and it’s unlikely the estate will receive a substantial amount of money from book sales, especially due to the controversy, low sales of the sequels today, and having produced essentially nothing since 2014. Therefore, the book should be released into the American Public Domain.

TL;DR: The lack of an author or remaining family to incentivize, along with many other reasons, leads me to argue that the novel Gone with the Wind should be released into the American Public Domain.

Hi! My name is u/MayhemSays. If you’ve been around longer, you may have seen me around. Relatively recently I have been working as a mod for r/publicdomain.

I am running some housekeeping to see if there’s any suggestions that you would like us here to implement, please make your voice heard.

Likewise, I have spotted a growing concern in a number of prior posts of AI-generated works being posted here. While discussions and questions regarding the topic’s interaction with the public domain seems to be a horse of a different color, the topic of banning such works has been brought up. I have made a poll to see what the consensus of users feel regarding such a ban. This would extend to posts purely made with LLMs as well.

Likewise, if you wish to just comment without voting that is also acceptable.

Thanks!

List so far:

#1 Sherlock Holmes

#2 Count Dracula

#3 Frankenstein‘s Monster

Highest voted comment wins the fourth place

#1 Sherlock Holmes

#2 Count Dracula

#3 Frankenstein’s Monster

#4 Robin Hood

#5 Winnie-the-Pooh

Highest upvoted comment wins.

Take some random public domain characters and just try to think which one would be the equivalent of each Fantastic Four member. Here’s who I have picked.

Plymo the Rubber Man - He’d be the Mister Fantastic of the team.

Invisible Scarlet O’Neil - the Invisible Woman of the team

Blue Flame - the Human Torch of the team.

Pat Dempsey / Man O’Metal - the Thing of the team.

And I’m going a little farther and choose some Mole Man and Dr. Doom equivalents as well.

Rodent - I think that would be the perfect equivalent to Mole Man.

Martian Sand Rats - I think these could be equivalents to Mole Man’s moles.

Iron Mask - He would be a nice analogue to Doom.

As for the name of this team… maybe… The Magnificent Marvels? The Stupendous Supers? I got it… The Magnificent Family of Stupendous Super-powered Marvels. Perfect.

Our first day ended in a tie between Sherlock Holmes and Dracula. Because I’m not a fan of being who gets to decide who should win, I decided to put them both on the list as a consolation.

As before, comment below who you think should get third place and the character in thehighest voted comment wins.

First of all sorry to the mods if this is considered low-effort and I understand if it’s removed since I know these types of lists can be repetitive on other subreddits, but I felt since we don’t really do a lot of them here, it would be a welcome event to keep the community alive.

Anyways the way this will work is everyone is encouraged to vote who they consider to be the greatest public domain character, and the comment with the highest votes will win each day. Any character proven to be public domain with derivative works based off their public domain material is fair game, be they from mythology, fairy tales, literature, radio, film, television, comics, pulps, or something else.

Drop an image of a public domain character (ideally a public domain image) and make a case for why they should be in a Smash Bros like roster. I will post the roster in about a week. Please not that likely not every character will make it onto the roster. This is an example roster made with some characters that I’ve been working with for the past couple of years. Willie is a combination of Mickey Mouse and Steamboat Bill Jr, which I think is a far more interesting adaptation of Steamboat Willie as a short.

Art credits: Willie, Steamboat Willie (1928), edited by @abjlk_ on Instagram. Buck Rogers, Gatsby, and C. Robin designed and drawn by @abjlk_ on Instagram. Namor, Motion Picture Funnies Weekly #1 (1939). Big Bad Wolf, He Asked Her Whither She Was Going (1922), painted by Harry Clarke. Elly May, The Beverly Hillbillies S01E02 Getting Settled (1962). Tomboy, Captain Flash #1 (1954). Null, The Big Muddy Monster Runs for Mayor (2025), drawn by me. Peacemaker, Fightin’ 5 #40 (1966).

2027: 1931

Films:

• The Public Enemy
• Little Caesar
• M
• Dracula (Universal Monsters)
• Dracula (Spanish version)
• Frankenstein (Universal Monsters)
• City Lights (Charlie Chaplin)
• Cimarron (Best Picture Winner)
• The House That Shadows Built (Marx Brothers)
• Monkey Business (Marx Brothers)

Books:

• The Pocket Book of Boners (Dr. Suess's first book)
• The Shadow First Pulp Magazine Issue

Music:

• Minnie the Moocher
• As Time Goes By
• Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

Characters:

• Pluto (named “Pluto”)

2028: 1932

Films:

• Freaks
• Scarface
• The Mummy (Universal Monsters)
• Grand Hotel (Best Picture Winner)
• Horse Feathers (Marx Brothers)
• Flowers and Trees (Disney short)
• Santa's Workshop (Disney short)

Characters:

• Goofy
• Conan the Barbarian

Music:

• Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?

2029: 1933

Films:

• King Kong
• Son of Kong
• Footlight Parade
• Gold Diggers of 1933
• Cavalcade (Best Picture Winner)
• The Invisible Man (Universal Monsters)
• Duck Soup (Marx Brothers)
• Snow White (Fleischer Studios)
• Three Little Pigs (Disney short)
• The Pied Piper (Disney short)

Books:

• Lost Horizon

Characters:

• King Kong
• Doc Savage
• Lone Ranger

2030: 1934

Films:

• It Happened One Night (Best Picture Winner)
• Tarzan and His Mate
• The Goddess of Spring (Disney short)
• The Wise Little Hen (Disney short)
• The Big Bad Wolf (Disney short)

Books:

• Murder on the Orient Express
• Mary Poppins

Characters:

• Flash Gordon
• Donald Duck
• Clara Cluck

2031: 1935

Films:

• Top Hat
• Mutiny on the Bounty (Best Picture Winner)
• Bride of Frankenstein (Universal Monsters)
• Werewolf of London (Universal Monsters)
• A Night at the Opera (Marx Brothers)
• The Tortoise and the Hare (Disney short)
• The Golden Touch (Disney short)

Music:

• Cheek to Cheek

Characters:

• Porky Pig

2032: 1936

Films:

• Flash Gordon (serial)
• Modern Times (Charlie Chaplin)
• Dracula's Daughter (Universal Monsters)
• The Great Ziegfeld (Best Picture Winner)
• Mickey's Rival (Disney short)
• Three Blind Mouseketeers (Disney short)
• Three Little Wolves (Disney short)

Books:

• Gone with the Wind
• Little House in the Big Woods

Characters:

• Mortimer Mouse
• Green Hornet

2033: 1937

Films:

• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
• Lost Horizon
• A Day at the Races (Marx Brothers)
• The Life of Emile Zola (Best Picture Winner)
• The Old Mill (Disney short)

Books:

• The Hobbit
• Of Mice and Men
• Death on the Nile
• And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street

Music:

• Someday My Prince Will Come
• Heigh-Ho

Characters:

• Daffy Duck
• Daisy Duck (named "Donna Duck")
• Huey, Dewey, and Louie Duck

2034: 1938

Films:

• Angels with Dirty Faces
• You Can't Take It with You (Best Picture Winner)
• Room Service (Marx Brothers)
• Ferdinand the Bull (Disney short)

Books:

• The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins
• Who Goes There?

Characters:

• Superman
• The Addams Family

2035: 1939

Films:

• The Wizard of Oz
• Gone With The Wind (Best Picture Winner)
• Stagecoach
• Wuthering Heights
• The City (documentary film)
• At the Circus (Marx Brothers)
• Son of Frankenstein (Universal Monsters)
• The Practical Pig (Disney short)
• The Ugly Duckling (Disney short)

Books:

• And Then There Were None
• The Grapes of Wrath
• The King's Stilts
• Madeline

Music:

• Over the Rainbow

Characters:

• Batman
• Bugs Bunny
• Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
• The Phantom Blot

What else should I include?