When a work's copyright expires, it enters the public domain. The following is a list of works that entered the public domain in 2004. 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, 2004.
Names Country Birth Death Occupation Notable work J. M. Robertson politician, journalist. Trade and Tariffs, The Fallacy of Saving – A Study in Economics, History of Freethought in the Nineteenth Century, Pagan Christs – Studies in Comparative Hierology, The Historical Jesus: A Survey of Positions, The Jesus Problem: Restatement of the Myth Theory, Jesus and Judas Hugo Zöller explorer, journalist. Rund um die Erde, Die Deutschen im brasilianischen Urwald, Pampas und Anden George Moore novelist, short-story writer, poet, art critic, memoirist and dramatist. Confessions of a Young Man, Esther Waters Sara Teasdale lyric poet. Love Songs, Sonnets to Duse and Other Poems, Helen of Troy and Other Poems, Rivers to the Sea John Galsworthy novelist, playwright. The Forsyte Saga, The Silver Box, A Modern Comedy, End of the Chapter Takiji Kobayashi novelist, proletarian literature writer. Kani Kōsen (The Crab Cannery Ship), Fuzaijinushi (The Absentee Landlord), March 15, 1928, Life of a Party Member, The Dogs That Kill Men Earl Derr Biggers novelist, playwright, detective fiction writer, journalist. The House Without a Key, The Chinese Parrot, Behind That Curtain, The Black Camel E. W. Hobson mathematician. The theory of functions of a real variable and the theory of Fourier's series, Mathematics, from the points of view of the Mathematician and of the Physicist, John Napier and the Invention of Logarithms, 1614, The Theory of Spherical and Ellipsoidal Harmonics Janet Milne Rae novelist, missionary. Morag: A Tale of Highland Life, Geordie's Tryst: A Tale of Scottish Life, A Bottle in the Smoke: A Tale of Anglo-Indian Life, The Awakening of Priscilla Constantine P. Cavafy poet, journalist, civil servant. Waiting for the Barbarians, Ithaca, In Sparta, The God Abandons Antony, Kaisarion Anna de Noailles novelist, poet, autobiographer. Les Innocentes, ou La Sagesse des femmes, Le Livre de ma vie, Les Vivants et les Morts, Les Forces éternelles Leonard Huxley biographer, magazine editor, schoolteacher. Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley, Life and Letters of Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker OM, GCSI, Charles Darwin, Thomas Henry Huxley: a character sketch John Henry Mackay anarchist philosopher, sports novelist. Die Anarchisten (The Anarchists: A Picture of Civilization at the Close of the Nineteenth Century), Leidenschaft(The Swimmer: The Story of a Passion), Die Bücher der namenlosen Liebe von Sagitta (Sagitta's Books of the Love without a Name), Der Freiheitsucher (The Freedom Seeker), Der Puppenjunge (The Hustler). Horatio Bottomley nationalist politician, World War I-era propagandist, magazine editor, newspaper proprietor, journalist, financier, fraudster. Founder of John Bull, co-founder of Financial Times, regular writer of the column series The World, the Flesh and the Devil, writer of Why Not a Women's Parliament? Dragutin Domjanić poet, writer of puppet plays Fala, Popevke sam slagal, Petrica Kerempuh and the Smart Ass Anthony Hope adventure fiction writer, playwright The Prisoner of Zenda, Rupert of Hentzau, Tales of Two People, A Man of Mark, The Dolly Dialogues Alexandru Philippide linguist, philologist, university professor, polemicistIntroducere în istoria limbei și literaturei române (Introduction to the History of Romanian Language and Literature), Gramatică elementară a limbii române (Elementary Grammar of the Romanian Language), Un specialist român la Lipsca (A Romanian Specialist at Leipzig), Originea românilor (The Origin of the Romanians) Annie Besant political writer, Theosophist, women's rights activist, activist for both Irish and Indian Self-governanceChristianity: Its Evidences, Its Origin, Its Morality, Its History, A Study in Consciousness: A contribution to the science of psychology., Esoteric Christianity, Man's Life in This and Other Worlds, The Life and Teaching of Muhammad, Sins of the Church: Threatenings and Slaughters György Almásy zoologist, ornithologist, ethnographerMadártani betekintés a román Dobrudzsába(Ornithological investigation into the Romanian Dobruja),Utazásom orosz Turkesztánba (My Journey to Russian Turkestan), Vándor-utam Ázsia szívébe (My Travels to the Heart of Asia) Ring Lardner sports columnist, novelist, short-story writer, satiristregular writer for the column series In the Wake of the News, wrote You Know Me Al, Haircut, Alibi Ike, Elmer, the Great, June Moon Pascal Poirier politician, historian, lawyerL'Origine des Acadiens, Les Acadiens de Philadelphie, Le Père Lefebvre et l'Acadie, Le Parler franco-acadien et ses origines G. R. S. Mead historian, translator, magazine editor, TheosophistFragments of a Faith Forgotten, Did Jesus Live 100 BC?, Thrice Greatest Hermes: Studies in Hellenistic Theosophy and Gnosis, The Mysteries Of Mithra, The Chaldæan Oracles, Gnostic John the Baptizer: Selections from the Mandæan John-Book Herminie Templeton Kavanagh short-story writer, playwrightDarby O'Gill and the Good People, Ashes of Old Wishes and Other Darby O'Gill Tales, The Color Sergeant, Swift-Wing of the Cherokee F. Holland Day photographer, publisherThe Seven Last Words Augustine Birrell politician, essayist, humorist, college professorObiter Dicta, Res Judicatae: Papers and Essays, More Obiter Dicta, Things Past Redress, Eight Years of Tory Government, 1895-1903; home affairs; handbook for the use of liberals Minnie Earl Sears librarian, cataloguer, bibliographerwriter of the Sears List of Subject Headings and the List of Subject Headings for Small Libraries, editor of the Standard Catalog for Public Libraries and the Standard Catalog for High School Libraries, co-editor of the Essay and General Literature Index Annie Armitt novelist, poet, short story writer, essayistThe Garden at Monkholme, In Shallow Waters, Man and His Relatives: A Question of Morality Stefan George symbolist poet, translatorDer Krieg (The War), Das neue Reich (The New Realm), Die Bücher der Hirten- und Preisgedichte, der Sagen und Sänge, und der hängenden Gärten(The Books of Eclogues and Eulogies, of Legends and Lays, and of the Hanging Gardens), Der siebente Ring (The Seventh Ring) Robert W. Chambers short-story writer, supernatural horror writer, weird fiction writerThe King in Yellow, The Maker of Moons, The Mystery of Choice, The Tree of Heaven Georgina Castle Smith children's writerNothing to Nobody, Froggy's Little Brother, Five Little Partridges, or, The Pilot's House, The Secret Terror Jennie M. Bingham short-story writer, poet, biographerA Grain of Mustard Seed, Melissa's Successful Failure, Margy's Holy Grail, Charlotte Brontë, Rembrandt and His Picture, The Anatomy Lesson
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.