Buzz
American copyright laws are notoriously complex, particularly for literary works. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s iconic Great American Novel, The Great Gatsby, was released in 1925, yet it will not become part of the public domain until January 1, 2021. What’s the reason behind this delay?
The right Act of 1976, enacted by Congress, overhauled the 1909 copyright regulations. Effective from 1978, it granted copyright protection for the author’s lifetime plus an additional 50 years posthumously. Additionally, anonymous, pseudonymous, and works-for-hire were protected for 75 years from their publication date.
Sonny Bono—known not just as half of Sonny and Cher but also as the mayor of Palm Springs, California (1988–1992) and a U.S. congressman—played a key role in delaying The Great Gatsby's entry into the public domain. In 1998, Congress enacted the Sonny Bono right Term Extension Act, which expanded the 1976 right Act. Originally, works like The Great Gatsby were set to enter the public domain 75 years after publication. However, the 1998 act added 20 more years to this term for works published with a copyright notice and renewed copyright, granting The Great Gatsby a total of 95 years of protection. (The bill was named in honor of Bono after his passing in 1998.) As a result, The Great Gatsby—along with numerous other books—will not become public domain until January 1, 2021, long after its initial release.
Fitzgerald’s earlier works, such as This Side of Paradise (1920) and The Beautiful and the Damned (1922), published before 1923, have already entered the public domain.
Gizmodo contends that imposing lengthy copyright restrictions on older books harms literary heritage. They argue, “Overly extended copyright terms and unclear public domain status make it challenging and risky to create new works based on shared cultural resources. A shrinking public domain not only deprives us of past creations but also limits future works that could build upon a richer public domain.”
One study analyzing books available on Amazon found that post-1923 publications are “significantly less accessible compared to books from even a century earlier,” as noted by Gizmodo.
Fortunately, unless Congress enacts further extensions to the right Act, The Great Gatsby is set to join the public domain in the near future.
