When a work's copyright expires, it enters the public domain. The following is a list of works that entered the public domain in 2008. Since laws vary globally, the copyright status of some works are not uniform.

Entered the public domain in countries with life + 70 years With the exception of Belarus (Life + 50 years) and Spain (Life + 80 years for creators that died before 1987), a work enters the public domain in Europe 70 years after the creator's death, if it was published during the creator's lifetime.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, 2008.

Names Country Birth Death Occupation Notable work J. M. Barrie novelist, playwright. The Little White Bird, Peter and Wendy Julian Bell poet, book editor. Winter Movement, Work for the Winter Jean de Brunhoff children's writer, illustrator. The Story of Babar, Babar and Father Christmas Ellis Parker Butler short story writer, essayist. Pigs Is Pigs, Philo Gubb, The Correspondence School Detective Ralph Connor novelist. Black Rock, a Tale of the Selkirks, The Gay Crusader Frederic Taber Cooper magazine editor, historian. Word formation in the Roman Sermo Plebeius. An historical study of the development of vocabulary in vulgar and late Latin, with special reference to the Romance languages, History of the Nineteenth Century in Caricature John Drinkwater poet, dramatist. Abraham Lincoln, The Death of Leander Florence Dugdale children's writer, biographer. The Book of Baby Birds, The Later Years of Thomas Hardy, 1892–1928 Edward Garnett writer, critic, literary editor. The Breaking Point, a Censured Play. With Preface and a Letter to the Censor, The great war in 1916, a neutral's indictment Ivor Gurney poet, composer. Five Elizabethan Songs , The Western Playland Elizabeth Haldane biographer, philosopher. From One Century to Another: The Reminiscences of Elizabeth S. Haldane, The Scotland of our Fathers: A Study of Scottish Life in the Nineteenth Century W. F. Harvey horror fiction writer. August Heat, Midnight House and Other Tales William F. Lloyd journalist, newspaper editor. editor of The Telegram H. P. Lovecraft writer of weird fiction, fantasy, and horror fiction. The Call of Cthulhu, The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath Don Marquis humorist, novelist, poet, newspaper columnist, and playwright. The Dark Hours, archy and mehitabel H. C. McNeile writer of thrillers and war stories. Bulldog Drummond, The Black Gang Chūya Nakahara poet, translator. Goat Songs, Songs of Bygone Days Tomas O'Crohan diarist, memoirist. Island Cross-Talk, The Islandman Horacio Quiroga playwright, poet, short story writer. Stories of Love, Madness, and Death, Jungle Tales Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo poet, novelist, opera writer, literary critic, journal editor. The Cup of Ashes, The Red Dawn Albert Verwey poet, translator, literary historian. Persephone Edith Wharton novelist, short story writer. The Age of Innocence, The House of Mirth

Entered 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 50 years after the creator's death.

NamesCountryBirthDeathOccupationNotable work Sholem Asch dramatist, essayist, novelist. In a Bad Time, God of Vengeance Arturo Barea autobiographer, radio broadcaster. The Forging of a Rebel, Struggle for the Spanish Soul Roy Campbell literary critic, poet, satirist, translator. The Wayzgoose: A South African Satire, The Georgiad – A Satirical Fantasy in Verse Joyce Cary poet, short story writer. Mister Johnson, The Horse's Mouth A. E. Coppard poet, short story writer. Fearful Pleasures, Nixey's Harlequin William Craigie lexicographer, philologist. editor for the Oxford English Dictionary, founding editor of the Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue Alfred Döblin essayist, novelist. Berlin Alexanderplatz, The Three Leaps of Wang Lun Lord Dunsany short story writer, playwright, novelist, poet. The King of Elfland's Daughter, The Gods of Pegāna May Edginton novelist, playwright. Secrets, The Prude's Fall Ernest Elmore crime novelist, fantasy writer. The Lake District Murder, The Cornish Coast Murder Rose Fyleman children's writer, playwright, poet, translator. There are fairies at the bottom of our garden, Lift your hidden faces Oliver St. John Gogarty playwright, oet. Blight, As I Was Going Down Sackville Street Barbu Lăzăreanu bibliographer, literary historian, satirist. Constantin Radovici, Agatha Bârsescu, Nora Marinescu, Slabs and Debris from Epidaurus' Temple José Lins do Rego novelist. Menino de engenho (Plantation boy), Pureza Malcolm Lowry novelist, poet. Under the Volcano, Ultramarine Curzio Malaparte filmmaker, war correspondent. Kaputt, The Skin Mait Metsanurk novelist, short story writer, playwright. Ümera jõel (On the Ümera River), Uues korteris Gabriela Mistral poet. Sonetos de la Muerte (Sonnets of Death), Despair Christopher Morley essayist, journalist, novelist, poet. Parnassus on Wheels, The Haunted Bookshop Mulshankar Mulani playwright. Saubhagya Sundari, Barrister John Middleton Murry essayist, literary critic. God: An Introduction to the Science of Metabiology, Katherine Mansfield and Other Literary Portraits Leo Perutz horror novelist, mathematician. From Nine to Nine, The Master of the Day of Judgement Rhoda Power children's writer, historical novelist. Redcap Runs Away, From the Fury of the Northmen: and Other Stories That Shaped Our Destiny in 18th to 19th Century England Dorothy Richardson novelist, journalist. Pilgrimage, Pointed Roofs Kenneth Roberts historical novelist. Northwest Passage, Lydia Bailey Dorothy L. Sayers crime novelist, literary critic, playwright, poet, translator. The Nine Tailors, Whose Body? Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa historical novelist. The Leopard, The Professor and the Siren Stanley Vestal biographer, historian, novelist. Kit Carson, the Happy Warrior of the West, Sitting Bull-Champion of the Sioux-a Biography Laura Ingalls Wilder novelist, journalist. Little House in the Big Woods, Little House on the Prairie Alfred Eckhard Zimmern classical scholar, historian, political scientist. The Greek Commonwealth: Politics and Economics in Fifth Century Athens, The Third British Empire Louis B. Mayer Filmmaker

Entering the public domain in the United States

In the United States, the copyright status of works extends for the life of the author or artists, plus 70 years. If the work is owned by a corporation, then the copyright extends 95 years.

Due to the passing of the Copyright Term Extension Act (Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act) in 1998, works never registered or published before January 1, 1978, and whose authors died before 1938 entered the public domain in this jurisdiction on January 1, 2008. Other works would not enter the public domain here until 2019.

See also 1907 in literature and 1957 in literature for deaths of writers Public Domain Day Creative Commons

References

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