Works Enter the Public Domain in 2026

Works of art created in 1930-such as early Betty Boop cartoons depicting her as a dog, Disney’s “Rover” prototype for Pluto, and more Mickey Mouse cartoons-all enter the U.S. public domain on January 1, 2026. Literary works joining them include Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh, William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, Dashiell Hammett’s the Maltese Falcon, and the first Miss Marple mystery penned by Agatha Christie.

Songs entering the public domain include Georgia on My Mind and Dream a Little Dream of Me. Keep in mind that only recordings made in 1930 are now public domain. Piet Mondrian’s Composition with Red, Blue and Yellow is among the paintings becoming freely available. In nonfiction, Memoirs of an Infantry Officer by Siegfried Sassoon will also be in the public domain.