The short answer
In the UK and EU, a book is in the public domain from 1 January after the 70th anniversary of its author's death. In the US, anything published before 1931 is now in the public domain, and books published from 1931 to 1963 are only protected if their copyright was renewed. Check the author's death year, the first publication date and, for the US, the renewal records.
Step 1: find the author's death year
Most of the world measures copyright from the author's death. In the UK, the EU and Australia the term is life plus 70 years, counted to the end of the calendar year. An author who died at any point in 1955 is out of copyright on 1 January 2026.
If there is more than one author, the clock runs from the death of the last surviving co-author. For a book with an anonymous author the term usually runs from creation or publication instead.
Step 2: find the first publication date
The United States is different: for older works it counts from publication, not death. As of 1 January 2026, every work first published in the US in 1930 or earlier is in the public domain there. Each New Year's Day another year joins them.
Use the first edition's date, not the date on the copy in front of you. A 1990 reprint of a 1925 novel is still a 1925 novel; only new material added in 1990 (an introduction, notes, illustrations) carries its own copyright.
Step 3: for the US, check the renewal
American works published from 1931 to 1963 (the years not yet out of copyright anyway) had to have their copyright renewed in the 28th year. If nobody renewed it, the book fell into the public domain. A large share of books from those years were never renewed, which is why some mid-century titles are free in the US while their authors' later books are not.
Renewals are recorded in the US Copyright Office's Catalog of Copyright Entries. Finding the renewal (or confirming its absence) is the step most often skipped, and it is the step that decides the case. In BlackSlate, a record with a checked renewal cites it by number; a record without one says Not verified.
Step 4: check the exceptions
- Translations have their own copyright, running from the translator's death. A public domain novel in a 1980 translation is not free to use in that translation.
- Later editions may add protected material: a revised text, a new foreword, maps or illustrations.
- Foreign works in the US. A foreign book that failed US formalities may have had its US copyright restored in 1996, if it was still protected in its home country then.
- Characters and titles can be protected separately as trademarks, even when the underlying book is free.
- Unpublished works follow their own rules. In the UK, letters and diaries by authors who died before 1969 that were never published can stay in copyright until the end of 2039.
Step 5: check every territory you will sell in
A film is sold around the world, and a book can be free in one country and protected in another. Canada and New Zealand, for example, ran shorter terms for years, so works can be free there decades before the UK. Check each territory separately; our guide to public domain dates by country sets out the rules side by side.
Questions
For the life of the author plus 70 years, counted to the end of the calendar year in which they died. Copyright then expires on 1 January of the following year.
Works first published in the United States in 1930, whose copyright ran out at the end of 2025.
In the UK, EU and Australia, usually yes, from the following 1 January. In the US, older works are measured from publication instead, so check the publication date and renewal too.
Only in what is new: an introduction, notes, illustrations or a revised text. The original text stays free, but copy from a first or verified public domain edition to be safe.