Winnie the Pooh enters the public domain in 2022, along with Kafka

Numerous movies and television shows are due to be made next year, all tied to different intellectual property. The United States has a number of copyright laws which protect these works, from Batman and Boba Fett. However, not all works are protected under intellectual property. Every year, new works enter the public domain, meaning that anyone can create works based on them, and this year’s crop stretches all the way to the Hundred Acre Wood.

Public Domain Review points out that each year there is not a universal guideline for what can and cannot be placed in the public domain. That’s because different countries have different laws. Some countries, like the United Kingdom and Russia, have laws that protect intellectual property for the term of the creator’s life plus 70 years. Others, like Canada and New Zealand, go for the term of a person’s life plus 50 years.

The Copyright Term Extension Act (1998) has made the laws in the United States more complicated. As its name implies, the Extension Act permits extensions to copyrights.

After a 96 year extension, 2022 will see works dating back to 1926 being made public. While many of these additions may not be obvious, there are some notable names. Below are some examples:

Winnie the Pooh from A.A. Milne

Winnie the Pooh Public domain will soon be the rock star. A.A. Milne wrote a short story collection that was a big hit in Britain. It saw children fall for Pooh, Piglet and Eyeore. However, this doesn’t mean you can suddenly sell t-shirts with Eyeore on them, asking if everyone else is having a fun time. According to a 2012 court case, Disney continues to own the rights for merchandising Pooh.

Franz Kafka’s Castle

One of Kafka’s three unfinished novels, The Castle The story tells of K, a land surveyor who is summoned by the authorities to visit a small community. However, upon arrival, he finds that these authorities, who reside in the town’s castle, are mostly anonymous and have crafted a irrationally complex bureaucracy for every aspect of their citizenry’s lives. And what’s more, the townsfolk love it. At times surreal, The Castle shows Kafka’s expansive imagination working towards what he did best: finding a logical and sometimes horrifying conclusion.

This album, which was released in 2013 by electronic group Tangerine Dream and is pure vibes, also inspired the accompanying Tangerine Dream Album.

Faust directed by. F.W. Murnau

Murnau was one of the most prominent horror filmmakers in history. Perhaps his best-known film, 1922’s vampire movie is what makes him famous today. Nosferatu, His 1929 version of the tale of the man who struck a deal to help Mephisto remains as remarkable. You can see the detail and artwork in Faust The film’s hypnotizing qualities are still evident today and it stands as an outstanding example of German Expressionism. In this style, the characters and set create the same feeling as the script.

Shinji Aoyama was the director who once spoke out about naming. Faust one of his top ten movies of all time, “I always want to remember that movies are made out of the joy of the replica. The fascination of movies is not their realism, but how to enjoy the ‘real’. This is what I’ve always known. Faust in my mind as I face a movie, make a movie, and talk about a movie.”

And luckily, it’s already on YouTube. We won’t tell if you start watching it before January 1st.