Lost copy of seventh-century poem in Old English discovered at Rome library; The Guardian, April 29, 2026

 Rory Carroll , The Guardian; Lost copy of seventh-century poem in Old English discovered at Rome library

"“This discovery is a testament to the power of libraries to facilitate new research by digitising their collections and making them freely available online,” she said.

Andrea Cappa, head of manuscripts and rare books at the Rome library, said the institution was digitising holdings from Italy’s National Centre for the Study of the Manuscript, which will give researchers access to more than 40m images.

Riccardo Fangarezzi, head of archives at the abbey in Nonantola, said he looked forward to further discoveries. “The present times may be rather dark, yet such intellectual contributions are genuine rays of sunlight: the continent is less isolated,” he said.

The poet Paul Muldoon translated Caedmon’s Hymn into contemporary English in a 2016 anthology of British poetry. The opening lines read:

“Now we must praise to the skies, the Keeper of the heavenly kingdom,

The might of the Measurer, all he has in mind,

The work of the Father of Glory, of all manner of marvel.”"

(Some of) The newest stuff at the Library!; Library of Congress Blogs, April 28, 2026

 Neely Tucker, Library of Congress Blogs; (Some of) The newest stuff at the Library!

"Walk into the Library’s annual showcase of new acquisitions and the question always hits you right in the face: Where to start?

What about with this slim copy of Silver Surfer No. 1, the origin story of Marvel Comics’ “Sentinel of the Spaceways,” from the groovy year of 1968? How about this massive law book that’s more than 500 years old? The “Tombstone Edition” of a Philadelphia newspaper from 1765, which documented and amplified the American Colonies loathing of the Stamp Act and presaged the American Revolution?

There’s never really a wrong place to start. This year’s two-hour show-and-tell, held last week, brought hundreds of staffers and guests to look over intriguing displays of the Library’s recently acquired treasures, items spanning the nation, the globe and centuries of time. Many added to already impressive collections of historic figures...

It was a crowded, noisy, upbeat afternoon of discovery and explanation. Conversations buzzed and overlapped; staff experts and curious viewers leaned over display tables from opposite sides, heads together, talking loudly to be heard, gazing down at maps, manuscripts, records, artifacts and things you couldn’t have known existed."

Printify Releases Guide on How to Avoid Copyright Infringement with T-shirts; The National Law Review, April 28, 2026

Press Release, The National Law Review; Printify Releases Guide on How to Avoid Copyright Infringement with T-shirts

"Printify, a leading print-on-demand platform, has announced the release of a comprehensive new guide designed to help entrepreneurs understand how to avoid copyright infringement when creating and selling custom apparel. As the t-shirt business continues to attract new creators, the risk of legal missteps—ranging from cease-and-desist letters to costly lawsuits—has become a major concern across the industry.

The guide delivers a clear, practical breakdown of intellectual property rules, helping sellers navigate the complexities of copyright, trademark, and publicity rights. By combining legal fundamentals with actionable advice, Printify aims to give entrepreneurs the confidence to create and scale their businesses without unnecessary risk.

Launching a t-shirt business has never been more accessible, but legal awareness remains one of the most overlooked aspects of success. With this release, Printify places itself at the center of a safer, more informed approach to building apparel brands."

CC’s position on key copyright issues; Creative Commons, April 22, 2026

 Creative Commons ; CC’s position on key copyright issues

"Creative Commons was founded in response to the radical expansion of copyright in the 20th century."

Celebrating the Public Domain; ABA, January 29, 2026

 Jennifer Jenkins and James Boyle, ABA ; Celebrating the Public Domain

"How does the public domain feed creativity? Here are just three examples. In 2025, you may have enjoyed Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, derived from Mary Shelley’s novel, or Wicked: For Good, derived from L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. From the literary realm in 2024, Percival Everett’s novel James reimagined Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from the perspective of Jim, Huckleberry’s friend who is an escaped slave. The novel won the 2024 National Book Award and Kirkus Prize and was a finalist for the Booker Prize. As summed up by a New York Times review: “‘Huck Finn’ Is a Masterpiece. This Retelling Just Might Be, Too.”  

Mark Twain famously wanted copyright to last forever. If he had his wish, would his heirs have sued Everett? Thankfully, we did not have to find out, and Everett could publish James without such litigation. When author Alice Randall sought to revisit Gone with the Wind from the slaves’ perspective in The Wind Done Gone (2001), she was sued for copyright infringement. Gone with the Wind is copyrighted until 2032, and Randall only won the right to publish her work after a stressful and expensive lawsuit.  

The newly public domain works from 1930 also illustrate how the public domain nurtures creativity. One of the best exemplars is Disney itself, whose beloved works, from Snow White and Cinderella to The Jungle Book and Sleeping Beauty, have consistently built upon the public domain. In 2026, copyright expired over nine early Mickey Mouse films. One of the things that made them so popular was their ingenious reuse of music. At the time, synchronizing moving images with sound was still new, and Walt Disney (correctly) predicted that sound films were the future. Steamboat Willie had pioneered a technique that would even become known as “mickey mousing”—synchronizing music with what was occurring on screen."

Exploring the Library of Congress’ National Screening Room: A vast collection of free online films; WTOP News, March 3, 2026

Matt Kaufax |, WTOP News ; Exploring the Library of Congress’ National Screening Room: A vast collection of free online films

"The National Screening Room is an online project of the Library of Congress, spearheaded by the audiovisual conservation operation happening at the library’s Packard Campus in Culpeper, Virginia.

If you click around the website, you’ll find it has a little bit of everything.

You might find classic cartoons like a 1936 short of “Popeye” next to a cut of the Claymation movie “Peter Cottontail” from 1971. Or you’ll stumble upon color footage of World War II from 1945, next to a tape of a Rolling Stones performance from the 1960s. Then, one more scroll of your mouse leads you to an episode of “The Danny Kaye Show” from 1965."

Why are copyright problems plaguing figure skating at the Milan Cortina Olympics?; AP, February 11, 2026

DAVE SKRETTA , AP; Why are copyright problems plaguing figure skating at the Milan Cortina Olympics?

"One of the recurring issues during the opening week of the figure skating program at the Milan Cortina Olympics has been copyright problems, which have forced some athletes to scramble for approval and others to ditch their planned programs entirely...

Why are copyright problems happening?

The International Skating Union long forbade the use of lyrics in any discipline besides ice dance, forcing athletes to perform to older pieces of music — often classical tunes, such as piano concertos. Those pieces were considered part of the public domain, which meant that they could be used or modified freely and without permission.

That changed in 2014, when the ISU lifted its ban on lyrics in the hope of appealing to younger audiences. Suddenly, skaters had the choice of just about any musical genre, from pop to hip-hop to hard rock and even heavy metal.

The problem is that modern music is not part of the public domain, which means athletes must obtain permission to use it. During the 2018 Pyeongchang Games, the first Olympics in which lyrics were allowed, American skaters Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier used a cover of “House of the Rising Sun,” and the indie rock band ultimately sued them for using it without its permission."

AI companies will fail. We can salvage something from the wreckage; The Guardian, January 18, 2026

Cory Doctorow, The Guardian; AI companies will fail. We can salvage something from the wreckage

"The growth narrative of AI is that AI will disrupt labor markets. I use “disrupt” here in its most disreputable tech-bro sense.

The promise of AI – the promise AI companies make to investors – is that there will be AI that can do your job, and when your boss fires you and replaces you with AI, he will keep half of your salary for himself and give the other half to the AI company.

That is the $13tn growth story that Morgan Stanley is telling. It’s why big investors are giving AI companies hundreds of billions of dollars. And because they are piling in, normies are also getting sucked in, risking their retirement savings and their family’s financial security.

Now, if AI could do your job, this would still be a problem. We would have to figure out what to do with all these unemployed people.

But AI can’t do your job. It can help you do your job, but that does not mean it is going to save anyone money...

After more than 20 years of being consistently wrong and terrible for artists’ rights, the US Copyright Office has finally done something gloriously, wonderfully right. All through this AI bubble, the Copyright Office has maintained – correctly – that AI-generated works cannot be copyrighted, because copyright is exclusively for humans. That is why the “monkey selfie” is in the public domain. Copyright is only awarded to works of human creative expression that are fixed in a tangible medium.

And not only has the Copyright Office taken this position, they have defended it vigorously in court, repeatedly winning judgments to uphold this principle.

The fact that every AI-created work is in the public domain means that if Getty or Disney or Universal or Hearst newspapers use AI to generate works – then anyone else can take those works, copy them, sell them or give them away for nothing. And the only thing those companies hate more than paying creative workers, is having other people take their stuff without permission...

AI is a bubble and bubbles are terrible.

Bubbles transfer the life savings of normal people who are just trying to have a dignified retirement to the wealthiest and most unethical people in our society, and every bubble eventually bursts, taking their savings with it."

Adviser in Anne Frank case suggests VPNs alone don’t break copyright borders; Courthouse News Service, January 15, 2026

EUNSEO HONG , Courthouse News Service; Adviser in Anne Frank case suggests VPNs alone don’t break copyright borders

"The dispute centers on a clash between the Anne Frank Fonds, which holds the copyright for certain versions of her diary in the Netherlands, and a group of academic and cultural institutions that published a comprehensive scholarly edition of the manuscripts online. While the diary entered the public domain in several EU countries in 2016, including Germany, Belgium and Italy, copyright protection in the Netherlands runs until 2037.

To account for that divide, the publishers limited access where the diary is still protected, using geoblocking and on-screen warnings. The Fonds challenged that setup, arguing that the possibility of access through VPN services was enough to make the publication unlawful in the Netherlands.

Rantos rejected that logic, warning that tying liability to the mere possibility of circumvention would make territorial copyright unworkable online.

“It is common ground that, in both the virtual and real world, no security measure is absolutely inviolable,” he wrote, underscoring that EU law does not expect publishers to do the impossible.

In his view, copyright responsibility turns on a publisher’s conduct, not on every workaround devised by determined users, unless the safeguards are intentionally flimsy or built to be easily defeated.

Stef van Gompel, a professor of intellectual property law at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, said the advocate general got it right in drawing a clear line between a publisher’s actions and what users might do to get around them. Treating VPN workarounds alone as a copyright violation, he said, would stretch the law too far.

“Otherwise, this would mark the end of online territorial licensing of copyright in the EU and jeopardize the free flow of information online,” van Gompel said. He warned that otherwise, works published where they are in the public domain could end up effectively off-limits online “if the work is still in copyright in any other country in the world.”"

Nancy Drew Cracks the Case of Copyright After 95 years, the earliest adventures in the mystery book series are now free for public use.; Wall Street Journal, January 7, 2026

Brenda Cronin, Wall Street Journal; Nancy Drew Cracks the Case of Copyright After 95 years, the earliest adventures in the mystery book series are now free for public use. 

"Nancy Drew has survived some scary situations. But the slender, attractive sleuth has just entered the most hair-raising of all: the public domain.

On New Year’s Day, 95 years of copyright protection under U.S. law expired on the first four books in Carolyn Keene’s mystery series about the fictional detective."

Disney’s Next Public Domain Fiasco Will Be a Nightmare for Us All; ScreenRant, January 2, 2026

Megan Peters, ScreenRant; Disney’s Next Public Domain Fiasco Will Be a Nightmare for Us All

"Now, 2026 is here, and it is ready to bring another fresh nightmare to us all as Goofy's best boy joins the public domain. 

Yes, that is right. Pluto is coming to public domain. The original version of Disney's favorite pup is going to the dogs, and that is hardly good news."

These notable works are officially in the public domain as 2026 arrives; CBS News, January 1, 2026

Leo Rocha, CBS News; These notable works are officially in the public domain as 2026 arrives

"List of popular intellectual property entering the public domain in 2026

The year 2026 marks the first time that copyrighted books, films, songs and art published in the '30s enter the U.S. public domain. As of Jan. 1, protections have expired for published works from 1930 and sound recordings from 1925.

Here are some of the most notable works that are now available for free use by anyone:

• "The Murder at the Vicarage" by Agatha Christie, the first novel featuring elderly amateur detective Miss Marple.
• "The Secret of the Old Clock" by Carolyn Keene, the first appearance of teen detective Nancy Drew, and three follow-ups.
• "The Little Engine That Could" by Watty Piper.
• Fleischer Studios' "Dizzy Dishes," the first cartoon in which Betty Boop appears.
• Disney's "The Chain Gang" and "The Picnic," both depicting the earliest versions of Mickey's dog Pluto.
• The initial four months of "Blondie" comic strips by Chic Young, featuring the earliest iterations of the titular character and her then-boyfriend, Dagwood.
• The film "All Quiet on the Western Front," directed by Lewis Milestone, Best Picture winner at the 3rd Academy Awards.
• "King of Jazz," directed by John Murray Anderson, Bing Crosby's first appearance in a feature film.
• "Animal Crackers," directed by Victor Heerman and starring the Marx Brothers.
• "The Big Trail," directed by Raoul Walsh, John Wayne's first turn as leading man.
• "But Not For Me," music by George Gershwin, lyrics by Ira Gershwin.
• "Georgia on My Mind," music by Hoagy Carmichael, lyrics by Stuart Gorrell.
• "Dream a Little Dream of Me," music by Fabian Andre and Wilbur Schwandt, lyrics by Gus Kahn.
• "Livin' in the Sunlight, Lovin' in the Moonlight," music by Al Sherman, lyrics by Al Lewis.
• Piet Mondrian's painting, "Composition with Red, Blue, and Yellow.""

Public Domain Day is coming — here’s what you need to know about characters like Betty Boop; The Beat, December 31, 2025

  Russ Burlingame, The Beat; Public Domain Day is coming — here’s what you need to know about characters like Betty Boop

As big-name characters enter the public domain, they come with asterisks.

"In just two days, when the calendar tips over into 2026, a number of beloved characters and works of art will lose copyright protection in the United States and enter the public domain. While this means you can print and sell your own versions of The Maltese Falcon and Animal Crackers, what’s arguably more important is the way the public domain fosters future creativity. When a character falls into the public domain, anyone can use them in derivative works, allowing for things like Wicked, featuring L. Frank Baum‘s characters from the world of Oz, or Jim, Percival Everett‘s award-winning novel based on the characters from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, to exist.

Of course, artists wishing to dip into the public domain for inspiration also have to be careful: while “Rover” is public domain, it’s likely Disney will continue to guard any version of Mickey Mouse’s beloved dog that is named Pluto for another year. Early editions of books featuring characters like Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys were sometimes rewritten or updated to reflect changing times, meaning that the version of The Secret of the Old Clock at your local library might still have copyright-protected elements.

In particular, the folks behind Fleischer Studios have signaled a willingness to fight over Betty Boop, who is headlining many of this year’s biggest “Public Domain Day” stories."

Blondie and Dagwood are entering the public domain, but Betty Boop still may be trapped in copyright jail; The Los Angeles Times, December 30, 2025

Michael Hiltzik, The Los Angeles Times; Blondie and Dagwood are entering the public domain, but Betty Boop still may be trapped in copyright jail

"Duke’s Jenkins refers to “the harm of the long term — so many works could have been rediscovered earlier.” Moreover, she says, “so many works don’t make it out of obscurity.” The long consignment to the wilderness thwarts “preservation, access, education, creative reuse, scholarship, etc., when most of the works are out of circulation and not benefiting any rights holders.”

Among other drawbacks, she notes, “films have disintegrated because preservationists can’t digitize them.” Many films from the 1930s are theoretically available to the public domain now, but not really because they’ve been lost forever.

What would be the right length of time? “We could have that same experience after a much shorter term,” Jenkins told me. “Looking back at works from the ‘70s and ‘80s has similar excitement for me.” Economic models, she adds, have placed the optimal term at about 35 years.

It’s proper to note that just because something is scheduled to enter the public domain, that doesn’t mean legal wrangling over its copyright protection is settled. 

With recurring characters, for instance, only the version appearing in a given threshold year enters the public domain 95 years later; subsequent alternations or enhancements retain protection until their term is up. That has led to courthouse disputes over just what changes are significant enough to retain copyright for those changes. 

“Copyrightable aspects of a character’s evolution that appear in later, still-protected works may remain off-limits until those later works themselves expire,” Los Angeles copyright lawyer Aaron Moss said."

Betty Boop, Mickey Mouse works enter the public domain in 2026; Axios, December 26, 2025

 Josephine Walker, Axios; Betty Boop, Mickey Mouse works enter the public domain in 2026

"The public will be able to copy and reproduce thousands of copyrighted works from 1930 in the new year, including flirtatious flapper Betty Boop, nine additional Mickey Mouse cartoons and novels from Agatha Christie and William Faulkner.

Why it matters: Copyright violations can run up a hefty price tag — but when works enter the public domain, creatives can legally reimagine American classics.

What they're saying: "To tell new stories, we draw from older ones," Duke Law professors Jennifer Jenkins and James Boyle wrote in an annual survey of works entering the public domain.

"One work of art inspires another — that is how the public domain feeds creativity."

The cultural works becoming public domain in 2026, from Betty Boop to Nancy Drew; NPR, December 26, 2025

 Rachel Treisman , NPR; The cultural works becoming public domain in 2026, from Betty Boop to Nancy Drew

"A new year means a new parade of classic characters and works entering the public domain.

Under U.S. law, the copyright on thousands of creations from 1930 — including films, books, musical compositions and more — will expire at the stroke of midnight on Jan. 1, 2026, meaning they will be free to use, share and adapt after nearly a century.

"I think this is my favorite crop of works yet, which is saying a lot," says Jennifer Jenkins, the director of Duke University Law School's Center for the Study of the Public Domain, who has compiled an annual list of public domain entrants for over a decade."

Amazon Prime slammed for streaming ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ with key scene cut out: ‘Sacrilege’'; New York Post, December 25, 2025

Ariel Zilber, New York Post; Amazon Prime slammed for streaming ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ with key scene cut out: ‘Sacrilege’

"The existence of the abridged version is rooted not in a creative choice by Amazon, but in the film’s famously tangled copyright history, according to the University of Connecticut.

In 1974, the distributor failed to renew the movie’s copyright, sending “It’s a Wonderful Life” into the public domain.

For nearly two decades, television stations freely aired the film — especially during the holidays — without paying royalties.

But the legal landscape shifted in the 1990s.

While the film itself had fallen into the public domain, the rights to two underlying elements had been properly maintained: the original short story “The Greatest Gift,” by Philip Van Doren Stern, and the musical score by Dimitri Timokin, a UConn legal blog noted.

Republic Pictures, later acquired by Paramount, used those copyrights to effectively reclaim control over the movie’s distribution, arguing that any exhibition of the film required licensing the copyrighted story and music.

The “Pottersville” sequence is the portion most directly adapted from Stern’s story.

Legal experts say the abridged version appears to be a workaround — by removing that specific sequence, distributors may have believed they could avoid infringing on the short story’s copyright while still offering a version of the film."

January 1, 2026 is Public Domain Day: Works from 1930 are open to all, as are sound recordings from 1925!; Center for the Study of the Public Domain, December 2025

Jennifer Jenkins and James Boyle, Center for the Study of the Public Domain; January 1, 2026 is Public Domain Day: Works from 1930 are open to all, as are sound recordings from 1925!

"CC BY 4.0

Please note that this site is only about US law; the copyright terms in other countries are different.[2]

On January 1, 2026, thousands of copyrighted works from 1930 enter the US public domain, along with sound recordings from 1925. They will be free for all to copy, share, and build upon.[3] The literary highlights range from William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying to Agatha Christie’s The Murder at the Vicarage and the first four Nancy Drew novels. From cartoons and comic strips, the characters Betty Boop, Pluto (originally named Rover), and Blondie and Dagwood made their first appearances. Films from the year featured Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo, the Marx Brothers, and John Wayne in his first leading role. Among the public domain compositions are I Got Rhythm, Georgia on My Mind, and Dream a Little Dream of Me. We are also celebrating paintings from Piet Mondrian and Paul Klee. Below you can find lists of some of the most notable books, characters, comics, and cartoons, films, songs, sound recordings, and art entering the public domain.[4] After each of them, we have provided an analysis of their significance. At the end of the article, we explain:

Why all of this matters
How do copyright and trademark law apply to characters?
What is the impact of the long copyright term?
What are the basic rules for determining whether something is public domain?
Conclusion"

Public Domain Day 2026 Is Coming: Here’s What to Know; Copyright Lately, December 7, 2025

 Aaron Moss, Copyright Lately ; Public Domain Day 2026 Is Coming: Here’s What to Know

"Regular observers of copyright law’s favorite holiday know the drill: on January 1, 2026, a new crop of creative works from 1930 (along with sound recordings from 1925) will enter the public domain in the United States—ready to be remixed, recycled, or repurposed into B-grade horror films and ill-advised erotica.

Happy Public Domain Day 2026

This year’s film class is stacked with classics: Howard Hughes’s aviation epic Hell’s Angels(Jean Harlow’s screen debut and, at the time, the most expensive movie ever made); The Big Trail, featuring John Wayne in his first starring role; Greta Garbo’s first talkie, Anna Christie; Bing Crosby’s film debut in King of Jazz; and 1930 Best Picture winner All Quiet on the Western Front. There’s plenty of comedy too, including the Marx Brothers’ Animal Crackers,Laurel and Hardy’s Another Fine Mess, and Soup to Nuts, best remembered for featuring an early iteration of the Three Stooges."

Law firm Morgan & Morgan drops Disney lawsuit over Mickey Mouse ad; Reuters, November 12, 2025

Blake Brittain, Reuters ; Law firm Morgan & Morgan drops Disney lawsuit over Mickey Mouse ad

"Personal injury law firm Morgan & Morgan on Wednesday voluntarily dismissed a lawsuit against Disney that sought to proactively defend its use of the early Mickey Mouse film "Steamboat Willie" in an advertisement.

Morgan & Morgan asked a Florida federal court to dismiss its case without prejudice, which means it can be refiled. Spokespeople for the firm did not immediately respond to a request for comment or for more information, including whether the parties settled."