Public domain calculator

What this calculator covers

This tool uses a deliberately narrow model for ordinary copyright term estimates. For the United States, it applies Title 17 rules commonly used for post-1978 works, older published works, and works made for hire: life of the author plus 70 years for many individual works, and 95 years from publication for many corporate or pre-1978 published works. The US result assumes a pre-1978 work was renewed when renewal matters, and does not handle unpublished works, sound recordings, restoration under the Uruguay Round Agreements Act, anonymous works with later-identified authors, or termination issues.

For the United Kingdom, the simplified rule shown here follows section 12 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 for literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works: copyright generally runs until the end of 70 years after the author dies, so practical public-domain use begins on the following 1 January. For the European Union, Article 1 of Directive 2006/116/EC uses the same life-plus-70 structure for authors' rights.

Copyright law is highly fact-specific. Films, music recordings, government works, Crown copyright, co-authored works, translations, editions, restored foreign works, and unpublished manuscripts can follow different rules. Treat the output as a starting point for research, not permission to publish or reuse a work. Read the primary sources: 17 U.S.C. § 302, 17 U.S.C. § 304, CDPA 1988 section 12, and EU Directive 2006/116/EC.