English

What is Public Domain Day?

Copyright protection is only temporarily. Works created in The Netherlands are  commonly free of copyrights on January 1, 70 years after the original author died. That is why the first day of the year also is referred to as Public Domain Day, a day to celebrate that new works have become available in the public domain.

The work of these people can be revived. They can be used on Wikipedia, remixed to new works and can be used for new publications.

On the 10th of January 2020 we discussed, looked at and listened to the works that are now part of the public domain in The Netherlands and their makers who died in 1949. This is the third year in a row that this event was organised. The event was mostly Dutch spoken.

International celebrations in 2020

There has been an international survey for people and/or organisations that will be or are interested in organising Public Domain Day in their country in 2020. Are you interested in contributing in your country in 2021? Then please contact us on PDDay.org. The map below is of the countries where an event has taken place in 2020 or where interest in organising an event was communicated.

Legend:
GREEN: At least one person indicated to be organising an event in their country.
ORANGE: At least one person indicated to be interested in organising an event, but there are no concrete plans yet.
RED: at least one person indicated to be interested in attending an event.