A Grand Re-Opening of the Public Domain
Friday, January 25

Why are people celebrating?? For the first time in decades, films, books, musical scores and images are entering the public domain!

The Internet Archive and Creative Commons invite you to kick up your heels and celebrate at the GRAND REOPENING OF THE PUBLIC DOMAIN at the Internet Archive in San Francisco on January 25, 2019 from 10-7p.m. Come meet champions of the public domain including Lawrence Lessig, Cory Doctorow, Jennifer Jenkins, and Jamie Boyle. Remix and create fantastic new works using public domain films. Get your copy of newly released Queer.Archive zine by artist Paul Soulellis, explore the films, books, sounds and tastes of 1923, and dive deep into the issues of copyright and creative reuse with the top legal scholars of our age.

It’s the best New Year’s deal: Tens of thousands of works are now free of copyright for the first time in 20 years in the United States

Come explore our collections and experience the joy of sharing, remix, and reuse with this unbelievable selection of works, including those some of your favorite authors, including Willa Cather, Joseph Conrad, Arthur Conan Doyle, E.M Forster, Kahlil Gibran and Aldous Huxley. Watch a Charlie Chaplin movie (now free for reuse) or learn to dance that 1923 international sensation, the Charleston!

Ever since the 1998 Copyright Term Extension Act, no published works have entered the public domain in the United States (well, none due to copyright expiration). But starting on January 1, 2019, tens of thousands of books, films, visual art, sheet music, plays, and other works published in 1923 are now free of copyright. At 2 p.m. Lawrence Lessig, founder of the Creative Commons, shares his take on the future.

Schedule of Events:

10am: Doors open & registration
10-12:45 pm: Interactive public domain demos by Creative Commons, Internet Archive, Wikipedia, Authors Alliance, Electronic Frontier Foundation, California Digital Library, Center for the Study of the Public Domain, LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired, the Cleveland Art Museum, and many more!
Noon-1pm: Lunch on your own in the Richmond District
1pm-6 pm: Keynote speakers, lightning talks and panels highlighting the value and importance of the public domain
6-7 pm: Reception

Please feel free to dress in 1920s attire! We sure will be.

If you can't attend in person, we will be livestreaming the 1pm-6pm PT programming on our Internet Archive Youtube channel.

If you're interested in volunteering during the event, we'd love your help! Please email volunteer@archive.org.