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Comment by Arainach | Hacker News Reader

To avoid the advent calendar, this may be more useful:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_in_public_domain

What really sends home just how ridiculously long it takes public domain to kick in to me is that Mein Kampf is on that list.

It feels like something that even in 1996 would have been a bit eye-raisingly overdue.

It's absolutely ridiculous and has almost everything to do with Disney trying to maintain their hold on Mickey Mouse. Every single time his expiration came up they managed to lobby for an extension and now we're left with this current mess of a system

Wow, I didn't know the connections between Mickey Mouse and Mein Kampf ran that deep. ;-)

I was like you once...

takes long drag from cigarette

That is only for Spain, which has copyright of Death of Author + 80.

Then why is he listed in that table? I don’t get it.

Because that table is "Entering the public domain in countries with life + 80 years".

Are you mistaking William Faulkner's mustache for Hitler's?

What does it mean to be in public domain

That question is answered by the first sentence on the page that this thread is discussing:

> At the start of each year, on January 1st, a new crop of works enter the public domain and become free to enjoy, share, and reuse for any purpose.

that the Hitler estate can't sue you for copyright infringement if you publish it yourself and distribute copies.

Interesting that he still has an estate. And thanks for explaining what it means

Estate is a common law concept. There’s no direct equivalent in German law.

In practice, there was not a Hitler estate - the government of Bavaria (a state in Germany) took ownership of the copyright.

Hitler did have a nephew by blood https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Stuart-Houston

and I guess a few others, but dwindling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitler_family

https://nypost.com/2018/10/08/some-of-hitlers-last-relatives...

...did they exercise it?

Rather the opposite, they disallowed anyone from printing copies

Neat! I just discovered that Carolyn Keene's first Nancy Drew story, "The Secret of the Old Clock", will be in the public domain next year. I remember reading this in elementary school when I was on a big mystery kick for a while (I had some of the computer games, too). I had no idea it was that old.

I see that How to Win Friends and Influence People is on there. I'm looking forward to the inevitable And Zombies adaptation coming in 2027.

So is the Diary of Anne Frank, that will surely get some sort of zombie remix in poor taste, I’m sure.

There's already the new musical, Slam Frank, which gives the story of Ann Frank the Hamilton treatment.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slam_Frank

One could even combine How to Win Friends and Influence People, the Diary of Anne Frank, the works of Einstein and Adolf Hitler into a some strange gory anime and others could do nothing about that. The possibilities are endless.

"and others could do nothing about that. The possibilities are endless."

Well, I wouldn't be so sure about it. Just because other people have no more copyright legal angle, there are still other legal and plenty of non legal ways to bother you, if you manage to piss enough people off.

Well yeah, but that's just being part of this universe and applicable to anything.

If one were to write fanfic with all those things combined, legally there are no repercussions, but people have indeed been tried and burned for less.

Imagine all the weird generative AI now these works all go public. Don't have to like it, but just imagine. So much crap will be produced in 2026.

Is this a reference to a public domain zombie reboot that already happened, or just sounds like something Hollywood would do?

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/pride_and_prejudice_and_zom...

Pretty sad that even a well intentioned non profit thinks it has to resort to "engagement" shenanigans.

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