When a work's copyright expires, it enters the public domain. Since laws vary globally, the copyright status of some works are not uniform. The following is a list of creators whose works enter the public domain in 2034 under the most common copyright regimes, assuming no further extensions to copyright terms become law in the interim.
Countries with life + 70 years
Except for Belarus (Life + 50 years) and Spain (which has a copyright term of Life + 80 years for creators that died before 1988), a work enters the public domain in Europe 70 years after the creator's death, if it was published during the creator's lifetime. In addition, several other countries have a limit of 70 years. The list is sorted alphabetically and includes a notable work of the creator.
NamesCountryDeathOccupationNotable work Georges Braque Painter, sculptor The Viaduct at L'Estaque Babu Gulabrai Writer Nâzım Hikmet PoetKız Çocuğu Aldous Huxley Writer, Philosopher Brave New World Amar Nath Kak Writer John F. Kennedy Politician, political writer Why England Slept, A Nation of Immigrants, Profiles in Courage C. S. Lewis Writer, Literary scholar The Chronicles of Narnia Patrick MacGill Poet, playwright Suspense Brinsley MacNamara Poet, playwright The Valley of the Squinting Windows Louis MacNeice Novelist, playwright Autumn Journal Laudelino Mejías Composer "Conticinio" Enrique Pérez Arce Politician, writerLa Tambora Rajendra Prasad Politician, writer Hemendra Kumar Roy Writer Laxminarayan Sahu Writer Rahul Sankrityayan Activist, writer Meri Jeevan Yatra Anasuya Shankar Writer Acharya Shivpujan Sahay Writer
Countries with life + 60 years
In Bangladesh, India, and Venezuela a work enters the public domain 60 years after the creator's death.
{| class="wikitable sortable" border="1" style="border-spacing:0 style="width:100%" !Names !Country !Death !Occupation !Notable work |- | Aziz Abaza
| Poet, politician
| Zainal Abidin Ahmad
| Writer, linguist
| W. H. Auden
| Poet
| Malek Bennabi
| Philosopher | Les Conditions de la Renaissance |- | Charles Brasch
| Poet, editor | Landfall |- | Elizabeth Bowen
| Biologist
| Pearl S. Buck
| Novelist | The Good Earth |- | Amílcar Cabral
| Activist | Esta É a Nossa Pátria Bem Amada |- | Noël Coward
| Playwright | Noël Coward on stage and screen |- | John Creasey
| Writer | Gideon's Day |- | Jim Croce
| Musician
| Bobby Darin
| Musician
| Henry Darger
| Novelist, artist | In the Realms of the Unreal |- | Dong Xiwen
| Painter | The Founding Ceremony of the Nation |- | Arthur Freed
| Lyricist, film producer | Singin' in the Rain |- | John Ford
| Director | John Ford filmography |- | Ragnar Frisch
| Economist
| Anthony Gilbert
| Writer | The Vanishing Corpse |- | Elisabeth Hauptmann
| Playwright | The Threepenny Opera (with Bertolt Brecht) |- | Taha Hussein
| Poet, politician | The Days |- | José Alfredo Jiménez
| Songwriter | "El Rey" |- | Lyndon B. Johnson
| Politician
| Raymonde de Kervern
| 1973 | Poet
| Bruce Lee
| Martial artist | Tao of Jeet Kune Do |- | Kathleen Lindsay | | 1973 | Writer
| Gian Francesco Malipiero
| Composer, musicologist | L'Orfeide |- | Cornelia Meigs
| 1973 | Children's writer | The Windy Hill |- | Nancy Mitford
| Writer | The Pursuit of Love |- | Pablo Neruda
| Poet | Canto General, Oda al Gato |- | Robert C. O'Brien
| Writer | Z for Zachariah |- | Kid Ory
| Composer | Red Allen, Kid Ory & Jack Teagarden at Newport |- | Gram Parsons
| Musician
| Isabel Peacocke
| Writer | Cathleen with a 'C''' |- | Pablo Picasso
| Painter | Guernica, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon|- | Pixinguinha
| Composer
| William Plomer
| Writer
| Andy Razaf
| Lyricist | Ain't Misbehavin'|- | Gopal Prasad Rimal
| Poet | Jangi Nishan Hamro|- | Ivan T. Sanderson
| Biologist
| Nigoghos Sarafian | | 1972 | Poet
| Muslim scholar | Works |- | Allan Sherman
| Comedian | "Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh (A Letter from Camp)" |- | Ousmane Diop Socé
| Poet | Contes et légendes d'Afrique noire|- | Abdillahi Suldaan Mohammed Timacade
| Poet
| Bhim Nidhi Tiwari | | 1973 | Poet | Dagbatti|- | J. R. R. Tolkien
| Writer | J. R. R. Tolkien bibliography |- | Valentin Tomberg
| Mystic | Meditations on the Tarot|- | Âşık Veysel
| Composer
| Alan Watts
| Philosopher | Alan Watts bibliography |- | Chic Young
| Cartoonist | Blondie
Countries with life + 50 years
In most countries of Africa and Asia, as well as Belarus, Bolivia, New Zealand, Egypt and Uruguay, a work enters the public domain 50 years after the creator's death.
NamesCountryDeathOccupationNotable work Hergé Comic artist The Adventures of Tintin Otto Messmer Animator Felix the Cat
Countries with life + 80 years
Spain has a copyright term of life + 80 years for creators that died before 1988. In Colombia and Equatorial Guinea, a work enters the public domain 80 years after the creator's death.
NamesCountryDeathOccupationNotable work Hans Aanrud Writer Tamar Abakelia Sculptor Abdullah Yusuf Ali Translator The Holy Qur'an: Text, Translation and Commentary Dimitri Arakishvili Composer The Legend of Shota Rustaveli Agustín Abarca Painter Walter Armitage Playwright Vladimir Bakaleinikov Composer, conductor Rudolf Bauer Painter Arnold Bax Composer, writer List of compositions by Arnold Bax Harmsen van der Beek Illustrator, commercial artist Noddy Hilaire Belloc Writer Hilaire Belloc bibliography Róbert Berény Painter Sleeping Lady with Black Vase Henri Bernstein Playwright Samson, Mélo Elsa Beskow Writer, illustrator Ugo Betti Playwright, judge The Fugitive Henrik Bull Architect National Theatre Ivan Bunin Writer List of short stories by Ivan Bunin, List of poems by Ivan Bunin John Horne Burns Writer The Gallery Rosario Candela Architect 740 Park Avenue Harold Cazneaux Photographer Cazneaux Tree Ahmed Ghulam Ali Chagla Composer "Qaumi Taranah" Albert Coates Composer, conductor Ruth Crawford Seeger Composer String Quartet 1931 Peter DeRose Composer "Deep Purple" Raoul Dufy Painter Edmund Dulac Illustrator Jean Epstein Film director The Fall of the House of Usher Georges Le Faure Writer Emil Filla Painter Konstanty Ildefons Gałczyński Poet Skumbrie w tomacie Albert Gleizes Painter, writer List of works by Albert Gleizes Milt Gross Cartoonist Count Screwloose Guccio Gucci Fashion designer Sophia Hayden Architect The Woman's Building Mary Brewster Hazelton Painter Photographer, writer and surrealist artist Cecil Hepworth Film director, producer Alice in Wonderland (1903 film) Tatsuo Hori Writer The Wind Has Risen Curuppumullage Jinarajadasa Writer Art as a factor in the soul's evolution Joseph Jongen Composer Mass, Op. 130 Emmerich Kálmán Composer Die Csárdásfürstin, Countess Maritza, Die Zirkusprinzessin Thiru. V. Kalyanasundaram Writer Fritz Kirchhoff Film director Attack on Baku Moïse Kisling Painter Eduard Künneke Composer The Cousin from Nowhere Elisabeth Kuyper Composer Jorge de Lima Politician, writer Will Longstaff Painter Menin Gate at Midnight Oskar Luts Writer, playwright Kornel Makuszyński Writer Koziołek Matołek Herman J. Mankiewicz Screenwriter Citizen Kane Emmanuel de Margerie Geographer John Marin Painter Daniel Gregory Mason Composer, music critic Erich Mendelsohn Architect List of works by Erich Mendelsohn Moses Milner Composer Mime Misu Dancer, film director In Nacht und Eis, Das Mirakel Vera Mukhina Sculptor, painter Worker and Kolkhoz Woman Sulaiman Nadvi Writer Khutbat-e-madras Ibrahim Nagi Poet "Al-Atlal" Francesco Saverio Nitti Politician Hisato Ohzawa Composer Piano Concerto No. 3 Eugene O'Neill Playwright Long Day's Journey into Night Francis Picabia Painter List of works by Francis Picabia Joseph Pinchon Illustrator Bécassine Uroš Predić Painter Happy Brothers Alice Prin Model, painter, writer Kiki's Memoirs Sergei Prokofiev Composer, conductor List of compositions by Sergei Prokofiev Vsevolod Pudovkin Film director, screenwriter Roger Quilter Composer Arnold Book of Old Songs Rachilde Writer Monsieur Vénus Graciliano Ramos Writer, translator Vidas secas Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Author The Yearling Django Reinhardt Composer, musician Winold Reiss Painter Winold Reiss industrial murals Pasquale Rizzoli Sculptor Ludomir Różycki Composer Max Sainsaulieu Architect Carnegie Library of Reims Rudolph Schindler Architect Schindler House Edward Shanks Writer Fête Galante Everett Shinn Painter Joseph Stalin Politician Economic Problems of Socialism in the USSR Vladimir Tatlin Painter, architect Tatlin's Tower Neyzen Tevfik Poet, satirist Jérôme Tharaud Writer Dylan Thomas Poet List of works by Dylan Thomas Totius Poet Julian Tuwim Poet "Murzynek Bambo" Jules Van Nuffel Composer In convertendo Dominus Bernard Carra de Vaux 1953 Orientalist Vydūnas Poet Erich Weinert Writer "Der heimliche Aufmarsch" Ben Ames Williams Writer The Unconquered Hank Williams Musician List of songs written by Hank Williams Arthur Wimperis Lyricist, screenwriter The Arcadians, Mrs. Miniver Friedrich Wolf Writer Professor Mamlock Xu Beihong Painter Vsevolod Zaderatsky Composer John Stepan Zamecnik Composer
United States Under the Copyright Term Extension Act, books published in 1938, films released in 1938, and other works published in 1938 will enter the public domain in 2034. Sound recordings published in 1933 and unpublished works whose authors died in 1963 will also enter the public domain.
Significant films entering the public domain in 2034 include Frank Capra's Best Picture Academy Award-winning adaptation of You Can't Take It with You starring Jean Arthur alongside Lionel Barrymore and James Stewart, The Adventures of Robin Hood starring Errol Flynn in the title role alongside Olivia de Havilland as Maid Marian, Bringing Up Baby with Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn, Boys Town with Spencer Tracy and Mickey Rooney, Sergei Eisenstein's historical epic Alexander Nevsky, the musical film Alexander's Ragtime Band based around Irving Berlin's same-named song, Alfred Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes, William Wyler's Jezebel with Bette Davis and Henry Fonda, David Butler's Kentucky with Loretta Young and Richard Greene, The Big Broadcast of 1938 with W. C. Fields and Bob Hope, the Laurel and Hardy comedy Block-Heads, Roy Rogers' debut film Under Western Stars, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's first Technicolor feature film Sweethearts with Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy, Victor Fleming's Test Pilot starring Clark Gable, Irving Thalberg's last production Marie Antoinette, Marcel Carné's Port of Shadows, Leni Riefenstahl's documentary film Olympia, Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse cartoon Brave Little Tailor and Silly Symphony short Ferdinand the Bull, Chuck Jones' directorial debut The Night Watchman, and the Looney Tunes cartoons Porky in Wackyland and Porky's Hare Hunt, the latter of which featured a rabbit antagonist who was a prototype of Bugs Bunny. The modern character designs of Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse will also enter the public domain, through a single newspaper comic strip published toward the end of the year. Meanwhile, Orson Welles' radio series The Mercury Theatre on the Air, infamous for its War of the Worlds broadcast, was already in the public domain with no proper copyright renewal on any of its scripts.