BRADLEY BLACKBURN:
00:00:21
The film All Quiet on the Western Front entered new territory in 2026. The 1930 Best Picture winner is now in the public domain, meaning it's no longer protected by copyright. There are other works available, too, from songs like "Georgia on my Mind"-- [STUART GORRELL, "GEORGIA ON MY MIND"] Georgia
BRADLEY BLACKBURN:
00:00:41
--to comic strips like Blondie and original versions of some characters. Mickey's dog Pluto was initially called Rover. "Boop, boop, ba-doop."
BRADLEY BLACKBURN:
00:00:51
And when Betty Boop first popped on screen, she had dog ears. Some of these characters change and develop over time. And so it's only the first iterations-- you might want to call them Betty Boop 1.0 or Pluto 1.0-- that are in the public domain.
BRADLEY BLACKBURN:
00:01:07
Duke professor and intellectual property law expert Jennifer Jenkins leads a team that tracks down copyright records every year. Looking at these works is like a time capsule, and you realize that the memory of the roaring '20s was fresh, but we were in the midst of the Great Depression.
BRADLEY BLACKBURN:
00:01:21
Classic books include The Little Engine that Could,the first four Nancy Drew novels, and Agatha Christie's The Murder at the Vicarage. Even the original FIFA World Cup trophy is now fair game. What can artists and creators do with these works now that they're in the public domain? Artists and creators can use these works in their own creations without having an army of lawyers, without having to worry about a lawsuit, and without having to track down the original copyright owners. [MUSIC PLAYING] Oh, we're birds of a different feather
BRADLEY BLACKBURN:
00:01:54
Jenkins says access helps push art forward and generate big new ideas like Wicked,based on public domain characters from The Wizard of Ozbook.
JENNIFER JENKINS:
00:02:03
You can see the public domain all around you. It's a wellspring of creativity.
BRADLEY BLACKBURN:
00:02:06
A fresh start for some classic works. Bradley Blackburn, CBS News, New York.
