[idoubtit]

The title makes it look like Public Domain is universal, while the article does mention that this list is only about the USA.

> On January 1, 2026, books published in 1930 enter the U.S. public domain.

The Copyright laws are different in each country, and it's a non-sense in the modern world.

A few years ago, I was searching for books written by Alexandra David-Neel. I found them on a Canadian (IIRC) website, but downloads were filtered by geo-IP, since what was in the public domain there was not yet public in France. One of the books I wanted was written before 1900, and not in print since then. Yet the author died in 1969, aged 100, so the French Public Domain for her works will start in 2040.

Another example: "As I lay dying" by William Faulkner is now Public Domain in the USA. It was Public Domain in Canada from 2013 to 2023. Then the law changed, and the copyright was extended by 20 years, and reinstated for this book until 2032 — which is 70 years after the author's death in 1962.

[zozbot234]

AIUI the Canadian law change did not reinstate copyright status for works that had lapsed into the public domain, though it did extend duration of existing copyright.