2020 in public domain

When a work's copyright expires, it enters the public domain. The following is a list of creators whose works entered the public domain in 2020. Since laws vary globally, the copyright status of some works is not uniform.

Entering the public domain in countries with life + 70 years With the exception of Belarus (Life + 50 years) and Spain (which has a copyright term of Life + 80 years for creators that died before 1987), a work enters the public domain in Europe at the end of the calendar year following 70 years after the creator's death, if it was published during the creator's lifetime. Russia has a 4-year extension to Life+ 70 (in essence Life+74) for authors who worked during World War II in the Soviet Union.Directive 2006/116/EC The list is sorted alphabetically and includes a notable work of the creator that entered the public domain on January 1, 2020.

Names Country Death Occupation Notable work James Truslow Adams Writer The March of Democracy Virginia M. Alexander Physician Publications Hervey Allen Author Anthony Adverse Masaharu Anesaki Historian History of Japanese Religion Mary Antin Writer The Promised Land Josef Maria Auchentaller Artist Bunte Bände Alice Bailey Writer Works Rodolfo Garcia (pt) Historian Hassan al-Banna imam Mudhakkirât al-da'wa wa al-dâ'iya Philip Barry Playwright Holiday Billy Baskette Pianist, composer Good Bye Broadway, Hello France Rex Beach Writer, Olympic athlete The Spoilers H. Bedford-Jones Writer The John Solomon series Khalil Beidas 1949 novelist Works Federico Beltrán Masses Painter Friedrich Bergius Chemist Bergius process Elsa Bernstein Writer Königskinder Musa Bigiev Theologian Selected works Elisheva Bikhovski Writer, Translator Simta'ot Writer Gustavus M. Blech Physician Practical Suggestions in Borderland Surgery Leonard Bloomfield Linguist Selected publications George Botsford Composer Robert Boudrioz Film director, screenwriter The Man with a Broken Ear Umberto Brunelleschi Artist, Illustrator Guillermo Buitrago Composer La Vispera de Año Nuevo Harry Burleigh Composer, singer settings of spirituals Helen Churchill Candee Writer, feminist Angkor the Magnificent Reg Carter Cartoonist Big Eggo N. D. Cocea Journalist, Novelist Vinul de viață lungă Richard Connell Writer The Most Dangerous Game Carlo Conti Rossini 1949 Orientalist Italia ed Etiopia dal trattato di Uccialli alla battaglia d'Adua Dorothea Conyers Novelist Will Cuppy Humorist How to be a Hermit Stoyan Danev Jurist and politician Norman Davey Engineer, Writer The Pilgrim of a Smile Edgar De Lange Composer Félix d'Herelle Microbiologist Published works Georgi Dimitrov Politician, revolutionary Georgi Dimitrov bibliography Grigoraș Dinicu Composer Hora staccato Ali Douagi sketch artist Sahirtu minhu al-layali Alexander Drankov photographer, cameraman, film producer William Price Drury Writer, soldier, politician The Flag Lieutenant Inés Echeverría Bello 1949 Writer Entre Deux Mondes Arthur Eichengrün Chemist 50 Jahre Aspirin novelist Silkkilaiva James Ensor Artist Christ's Entry Into Brussels in 1889 Herbert Eulenberg Writer Schattenbilder. Eine Fibel für Kulturbedürftige in Deutschland August Fischer Orientalist Arabische Chrestomathie aus Prosaschriftstellern Victor Fleming Film Director The Wizard of Oz, Gone with the Wind James Forrestal Politician The Forrestal Diaries Nikolay Gamaleya Physician, microbiologist Henri Giraud General Mes Evasions, Un seul but; la victoire: Alger 1942-1944 Poet Song about Shchors Orientalist El amor entre los musulmanes españoles, El tesoro de los Nazaríes Hari Singh Gour Jurist, educator, writer The Penal Law of India Martin Grabmann Priest, Historian Thomas Aquinas: His Personality and Thought Stanisław Grabski Economist, Politician Major Greenwood Epidemiologist Publications Joan Lamote de Grignon Composer La nit de Nadal George Gurdjieff spiritual teacher The Herald of Coming Good František Halas Poet, translator Fritz Hart Composer, conductor Syed Zafarul Hasan Philosopher Realism Kunihiko Hashimoto Composer Azami no Hana Will Hay Comedian, amateur astronomer Through My Telescope Burton J. Hendrick Author The Life and Letters of Walter H. Page Johann Jakob Hess Egyptologist Von den Beduinen des inneren Arabiens Ludwig Hohlwein Poster artist William Jackson Humphreys physicist Bibliography Otto Hupp graphical artist Wappen und Siegel der deutschen Städte, Flecken und Dörfer Douglas Hyde linguist The necessity for de-anglicising the Irish nation Edmond Jaloux Novelist Works Josep Maria Jujol Architect Casa Batlló, Park Güell Writer Die Mutter der Neun Clarence Jones Composer Pierre Jouguet Egyptologist Works Unno Juza Writer of science fiction Anna Karima Writer and translator Selâhattin Kantar playwright Kara Dana Kim Ku Politician Diary of Kim Ku Hans Kindler Conductor, cellist, arranger of music Recordings Hugh Kingsmill Writer, journalist Martin Knudsen Physicist The Kinetic Theory of Gases József Koszta Painter Girl with Geraniums Fritz Krischen Archaeologist, Architect Die Stadtmauern von Pompeji und griechische Festungsbaukunst in Unteritalien und Sizilien August Krogh Zoologist The Respiratory Exchange of Animals and Man Albert Christian Kruyt Ethnographer The Bare'e speaking Toraja of Central Sulawesi Lead Belly Musician, songwriter Goodnight, Irene Vasily Lebedev-Kumach Poet The Sacred War Fidelio Ponce de León Painter Niňos Ernst Lommatzsch Classical scholar Corpus inscriptionum latinarum: Vol. 1. Inscriptiones Latinae antiquissimae Albert Howe Lybyer 1949 orientalist The Government of the Ottoman Empire in the Time of Suleiman the Magnificent Carmen Lyra Writer Cuentos De Mi Tia Panchita Antonio Machado Poet Works Maurice Maeterlinck Playwright Works René Maire botanist Flore de l'Afrique du Nord Jane Mander Novelist The Story of a New Zealand River Klaus Mann Novelist Mephisto J. C. Mardrus 1949 Orientalist Works Paul Marc Byzantine scholar Die hellenistisch-jüdische Literatur Wilhelm von Massow Archaeologist Das römische Trier Elton Mayo Psychologist Publications Ibrahim al-Mazini 1949 Writer Spider Webs Stefan Meyer Physicist Radioaktivität Margaret Mitchell Novelist Gone with the Wind Axel Munthe Psychiatrist The Story of San Michele Khalil Mutran poet Sarojini Naidu Poet Works Vladimir Nazor Poet, politician Makino Nobuaki Statesman Makino Nobuaki nikki Vítězslav Novák Composer Bouře Carlos Obligado Writer, critic March of the Malvinas Sidney Olcott Film director The Pony Express Francesco Pasinetti Film Director, screenwriter The Canal of the Angels Elin Pelin Writer Una Pope-Hennessy Historian Secret Societies and the French Revolution Camillo Praschniker Archaeologist Archäologische Forschungen in Albanien und Montenegro Guillermo Tell Villegas Pulido politician Works Alfred Rehder Botanist Manual of Cultivated Trees and Shrubs, Hardy in North America Albert Rehm Classical scholar Mythographische Untersuchungen über griechische Sternsagen Gennaro Righelli Film director, screenwriter Svengali Tod Robbins 1949 writer Works Julius Ruska Orientalist Al Razi (Rhases) als Chemiker Antoun Saadeh Politician Nushu' al-Umam E. Robert Schmitz Composer The Piano works of Claude Debussy Paul Schultze-Naumburg Architect Die Kunst der Deutschen. Ihr Wesen und ihre Werke Alexey Shchusev Architect Lenin's Mausoleum Nikos Skalkottas Composer List of compositions by Nikos Skalkottas G. E. M. Skues Writer, fly fisherman The Way of a Trout with the Fly Frank Smythe Mountaineer, author, photographer The Kangchenjunga Adventure Edith Somerville Novelist The Irish R.M. Otto Stählin Classical scholar Die hellenistisch-jüdische Literatur Edward Stettinius Politician Roosevelt and the Russians Herbert Stothart Composer, songwriter, conductor Score for The Wizard of Oz Richard Strauss Composer List of compositions Harry Stack Sullivan Psychiatrist Works Ali Mahmoud Taha Poet Nights of the Lost Sailor, Palestine Edward Thorndike Psychologist Works Joaquín Torres-García Artist, writer Gancho Tsenov Historian Joaquín Turina Composer Danzas fantásticas Uemura Shōen Artist Jo-no-mai Sigrid Undset Novelist Works Shabbir Ahmad Usmani theologian Fathul Mulhim Sharh Sahih Muslim Raimond Valgre composer, musician Josef Velenovský botanist Works Oswald Garrison Villard Journalist, civil rights activist John Brown 1800-1859: A Biography Fifty Years After Rosy Wertheim Composer Elin Wägner Novelist The Penholder Lee "Lasses" White Pianist, songwriter, actor E. H. Young Novelist and children's writer Arthur Leo Zagat Writer, lawyer Nikola Zhekov General Memoirs Oton Župančič Writer, translator Ciciban

Countries with life + 60 years In Bangladesh, India, and Venezuela a work enters the public domain 60 years after the creator's death. NamesCountryDeathOccupationNotable work Santiago Key Ayala Historian, diplomat Haricharan Bandopadhayaya Scholar, dictionary compiler Barindra Kumar Ghosh Journalist Pattukkottai Kalyanasundaram Film lyricist Abdur Razzaq Malihabadi 1959 Writer J. R. Rangaraju 1959 Novelist Govind Sakharam Sardesai Historian

Entering the public domain in countries with life + 50 years In most countries of Africa and Asia, as well as Belarus, Bolivia, Canada, New Zealand, Egypt and Uruguay; a work enters the public domain at the end of the calendar year following 50 years after the creator's death.