Commons:Public Domain Day
Public Domain Day celebrates the entry of works into the public domain due to the expiration of copyright. From this day anyone may share these works in Wikimedia Commons.
Wikimedia Commons requires that its content be free and open to share in the country of original publication of a work and in the United States where the Wikimedia data servers are.
How to celebrate[edit]
Host a Wikimedia party![edit]
15 January 2001 is the founding date of both Wikipedia and Creative Commons. Although Wikimedia Commons' founding day is 7 September 2004, with Wikipedia, Creative Commons, and Public Domain Day all being in January, that month is still a good day to have a Commons' celebration.
Go to a coffeehouse, library, or community center and make wiki edits with other free culture enthusiasts. Play 95-year old music or watch a 95-year old movie. Scheme about the cartoons you will publish in 2024 when Steamboat Willie and the Mickey Mouse character enters the public domain and you can make Mickey Mouse speak out against the Mickey Mouse Act which extended copyright terms.
Undelete previously uploaded works[edit]
Users uploaded files which are now eligible! Ask Wikimedia Commons administrators to undelete these files. Please remember to thank the administrators and the original uploaders!
Upload files which are now public domain[edit]
Media published in 1926 can now be in Commons. Please import media from 1926!
Reform Wikimedia Commons templates and policies to anticipate an annual public domain day[edit]
Until now 1923 has been a special year which Commons contributors know as the cut-off for public domain. From now on the cut off year changes every 1 January. Join conversations and plans to update Commons templates and documentation to change statement of 1923 into either a phrasing which users can understand perpetually or to name a year in a way that is easy to update every year. There are hundreds of thousands of templates in use which mention 1923. Many documentation pages mention 1923 without any plans to update this year.
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Get ready for future years![edit]
Prepare the undeletion lists of future years at
Past celebrations[edit]
External links[edit]
- Public Domain Day at Duke University School of Law
- PublicDomainManifesto.org
- The Public Domain Review