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 This is a continuation of my blogging here at WdC |
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This will be a blog for my writing, maybe with (too much) personal thrown in. I am hoping it will be a little more interactive, with me answering questions, helping out and whatnot. If it falls this year (2024), then I may stop the whole blogging thing, but that's all a "wait and see" scenario. An index of topics can be found here: "Writing Blog No.2 Index"  Feel free to comment and interact. |
| Public Domain There has been a bit of talk in the past few years about public domain and what that means. Looking at some of the books and anthology calls coming out, this is becoming something that is increasingly on the rise in pop culture. Not just in books, either – films are taking it on with gusto. This is a little bit more expansive and with clarifications after an earlier post on the same subject confused people. What is it? Public domain means the copyright for a work, a character, or a created entity has expired, and the character is free for literally anyone to use in whatever way they like. Things enter the public domain every year; it all depends on a few factors, and which country the work originated in, or where the copyright originated. If it is across borders, then a work might be in public domain in one country, and not another. The two countries I know of have these rules: USA – if a work was first published in any year up to and including 1928, it is in the public domain; every year from and including 1929, the copyright lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years. Australia – copyright expires 70 years after the death of the author unless the author’s heirs take legal steps to prevent it. Written music or musical scores enters public domain 95 years after being written. Films enter the public domain 95 years after initial release. Recorded music enters the public domain 70 years after a recording was released (not recorded). What does this mean? This means you can use these characters in stories as you want! Woo-hoo! That’s how we got the films Winnie The Pooh: Blood And Honey and The Mouse Trap. But you can only use depictions as seen or created in the works that have entered public domain. So you can write a Snow White story (fairy tales are all in the public domain) but cannot name the seven dwarves Doc, Bashful, Dopey, Sneezy, Grumpy, Sleepy and Happy. These are Disney creations and because Disney have just released a live action version of the film before it entered public domain, copyright is renewed for them. You can have the Winnie the Pooh characters as they appear in the AA Milne books, but not based on the way they are depicted in the Disney movie and TV series. It’s a fine line, but one you must not cross. So anything involving the public domain characters is otherwise up to you. Make them serial killers, erotic denizens of suburbia, spacemen, whatever. But the characters must be based on that depiction which has entered public domain and no further/ later iterations of the characters. What is in the public domain? So much! For a start, all mythological characters, all fairy tales, all folkloric characters are in the public domain. Again, not modern interpretations (e.g. Clash Of The Titans), but the original stories. Classics like Sherlock Holmes, Victor Frankenstein and his monster (not as depicted in the Universal or Hammer films… yet), Dracula, Dorian Gray, Jekyll & Hyde, the Phantom of the Opera, Tarzan, Zorro, Robin Hood (not as depicted by any film, however), Quasimodo, Ebeneezer Scrooge… so many! It’s how films/ graphic novels like The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen can be made. There are heaps of lists online of public domain characters – including superheroes – that are free to use. On a personal note, I wrote a short story for an anthology called Pulpsploitation (Metahuman Press) where we had to take a public domain character and write a pulp-styled story about them. I chose Tabu (details here ), and transferred him to modern times and even used his arch-nemesis (though ignored the magic powers iteration). I chose him because I had an old comic reprint with him in it. So public domain can be so much fun to use, and you are not restricted with sales, like fan fiction!And I hope that explains public domain! |
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