# 2005 in public domain

When a work's copyright expires, it enters the public domain. The following is a list of works that entered the public domain in 2005. Since laws vary globally, the copyright status of some works are not uniform.

## Entered the public domain in countries with life + 70 years

With the exception of Belarus (Life + 50 years) and Spain (Life + 80 years for creators that died before 1987), a work enters the public domain in Europe 70 years after the creator's death, if it was published during the creator's lifetime. The list is sorted alphabetically and includes a notable work of the creator that entered the public domain on January 1, 2005.
| Names | Country | Birth | Death | Occupation | Notable work |
| Jakob Wassermann | Germany | 10 March 1873 | 1 January 1934 | novelist. | Melusine, The Maurizius Case, My Life as German and Jew |
| Dorothy Edwards | United Kingdom | 18 August 1902 | 5 January 1934 | novelist, short story writer. | Rhapsody, Winter Sonata |
| Andrei Bely | Russia | 26 October 1880 | 8 January 1934 | novelist, poet, literary critic. | Petersburg, The Silver Dove |
| Helen Zimmern | United Kingdom | 25 March 1846 | 11 January 1934 | children's writer, biographer, political writer, translator. | Arthur Schopenhauer, his Life and his Philosophy, Tripoli and Young Italy |
| Hermann Bahr | Austria | 19 July 1863 | 15 January 1934 | novelist, playwright, art critic, literary critic. | The Concert, Expressionismus |
| Ferenc Móra | Hungary | 19 July 1879 | 8 February 1934 | novelist, journalist, museologist. | Sons of the Slave Man, A Journey in the Underground Hungary, Suns, Moons, Bygone Stars |
| Emeline Harriet Howe | United States | 2 January 1844 | 28 February 1934 | poet. | Poems, A Basket of Fragments, From Height to Height |
| Thomas Anstey Guthrie | United Kingdom | 8 August 1856 | 10 March 1934 | comic novelist, parodist, humorist. | Vice Versa, The Man from Blankley's, The Tinted Venus |
| Safvet-beg Bašagić | Bosnia | 6 May 1870 | 9 April 1934 | biographer, poet, bibliographer, translator. | Bosnians and Herzegovinians in Islamic literature, Illustrious Croats - Bosnians and Herzegovinians in the Ottoman empire |
| R. C. Packer | Australia | 24 July 1879 | 12 April 1934 | journalist, newspaper editor, publisher. | founder of Smith's Weekly and the Daily Guardian |
| Paul Zarifopol | Romania | 30 November 1874 | 1 May 1934 | literary critic, social critic, essayist, literary historian, magazine publisher. | founder of Revista Fundațiilor Regale, writer of A Register of Tender Ideas, Artists and Ideas in Romanian Literature |
| John Gray | United Kingdom | 2 March 1866 | 14 June 1934 | poet, novelist, translator. | Park: A Fantastic Story, Silverpoints, Spiritual Poems, chiefly done out of several languages |
| Thorne Smith | United States | 27 March 1892 | 20 June 1934 | fantasy writer, comedy writer, mystery writer, poet, screenwriter. | Topper, Topper Takes a Trip, The Night Life of the Gods, Turnabout |
| Naitō Konan | Japan | 27 August 1866 | 26 June 1934 | historian, Sinologist. | Nara |
| Fritz Gerlich | Germany | 15 February 1883 | 30 June 1934 | journalist, historian, political writer, satirist. | The Testament of Henry VI, Communism as the Theory of the Thousand Year Reich, Does Hitler Have Mongolian Blood? |
| Karl-Günther Heimsoth | Germany | 4 December 1899 | June 1934 | physician, sexologist, homosexual activist, astrologist. | Hetero- and Homophilia, Love Between Friends or Homosexuality, Character Constellation: With Particular Reference to Homosexuality |
| Willi Schmid | Germany | 12 April 1893 | 30 June 1934 | music critic, musician. | music critic for the Münchener Neueste Nachrichten, founder of the music band Munich Viol Quartet |
| Hayim Nahman Bialik | Ukraine | 9 January 1873 | 4 July 1934 | poet, essayist, translator, publisher, folklorist. | In the City of Slaughter, Sefer HaAggadah |
| Julian Hawthorne | United States | 22 June 1846 | 14 July 1934 | novelist, short story writer, poet, essayist, travel writer, biographer, historian. | The Great Bank Robbery, An American Penman, A Tragic Mystery, Section 558, Another's Crime |
| Karl Joel | Germany | 27 March 1864 | 23 July 1934 | philosopher. | Nietzsche und die Romantik, Ursprung der Naturphilosophie aus dem Geiste der Mystik, Geschichte der antiken Philosophie |
| Frane Bulić | Croatia | 4 October 1846 | 29 July 1934 | archaeologist, historian. | Croatian monuments in the Knin area and Dalmatia from the age of Croatian national dynasties, Palace of Emperor Diocletian in Split, The steps of the Croatian national rulers |
| Mary Hunter Austin | United States | 9 September 1868 | 13 August 1934 | nature writer, playwright. | The Land of Little Rain, The Arrow Maker, Taos Pueblo |
| Rebecca Richardson Joslin | United States | 20 March 1846 | 30 August 1934 | essayist, historian. | Chasing Eclipses: The Total Solar Eclipses of 1905, 1914, 1925, 1929, Essays on Early Years of Charles V. in Spain, War of the Comuneros, Rival Claimants to the Spanish Throne, French Influence in Spain, Italian Literature in the Time of Charles III. of Spain |
| Roger Fry | United Kingdom | 14 December 1866 | 9 September 1934 | painter, art critic, essayist, translator. | An essay in Aesthetics, Art History as an Academic Study, The Artist and Psycho-Analysis, Flemish Art |
| Gheorghe Bogdan-Duică | Romania | 2 January 1866 | 21 September 1934 | literary critic, biographer, editor, translator. | The Romanians and the Jews, Pointless Literature (of Course by Lucian Blaga)) |
| Arthur Wing Pinero | United Kingdom | 24 May 1855 | 23 November 1934 | playwright, actor. | The Magistrate, The Second Mrs Tanqueray, Trelawny of the "Wells", The Gay Lord Quex |
| Gustave Lanson | France | 5 August 1857 | 15 December 1934 | historian, literary critic, biographer. | Molière and Farce, The New Poetry in France, The Modern Subjects in Secondary Education |
| Wallace Thurman | United States | 16 August 1902 | 22 December 1934 | novelist, screenwriter, playwright, ghostwriter, essayist, satirist, editor, publisher. | The Blacker the Berry: A Novel of Negro Life, Harlem: A Melodrama of Negro Life in Harlem, Infants of the Spring |
| Cora Linn Daniels | United States | 17 March 1852 | 1934 | mystery novelist, poet, newspaper editor, journalist, folklorist, encyclopedia writer. | The Bronze Buddha: A Mystery, As It Is To Be, Encyclopaedia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World: A Comprehensive Library of Human Belief and Practice in the Mysteries of Life |

## Entered the public domain in countries with life + 50 years

In most countries of Africa and Asia, as well as Belarus, Bolivia, Canada, New Zealand, Egypt and Uruguay; a work enters the public domain 50 years after the creator's death.
| Names | Country | Birth | Death | Occupation | Notable work |
| Duff Cooper | United Kingdom | 22 February 1890 | 1 January 1954 | military historian, political historian, novelist. | Old Men Forget, The Duff Cooper Diaries: 1915–1951, Sergeant Shakespeare, Operation Heartbreak |
| E. K. Chambers | United Kingdom | 16 March 1866 | 21 January 1954 | literary historian, theatre historian, literary critic, Shakespearean scholar. | The Elizabethan Stage, The Medieval Stage, The History and Motives of Literary Forgeries, English Literature at the Close of the Middle Ages |
| M. N. Roy | India | 21 March 1887 | 25 January 1954 | philosopher, political theorist. | India in Transition, The Future of Indian Politics, Revolution and Counter-revolution in China, The Philosophical Consequence of Modern Science |
| Hella Wuolijoki | Finland | 22 July 1886 | 2 February 1954 | novelist, playwright. | Entäs nyt, Niskavuori?, The Sawdust Princess |
| Maxwell Bodenheim | United States | 26 May 1892 | 6 February 1954 | novelist, poet, memoirist, journalist. | My Life and Loves in Greenwich Village, Naked on Roller Skates, New York Madness, Cutie : a warm mamma |
| Francis Brett Young | United Kingdom | 29 June 1884 | 28 March 1954 | novelist, poet, playwright, composer, memoirist. | Sea Horses, Portrait of Clare, Black Roses |
| Juan Álvarez | Argentina | 3 September 1878 | 8 April 1954 | historian. | Essay on the history of Santa Fe, History of Rosario (1689–1939) |
| Winnifred Eaton | Canada | 21 August 1875 | 8 April 1954 | novelist, short story writer, screenwriter, cookbook writer. | Miss Nume of Japan, A Japanese Nightingale, Me, A Book of Remembrance, Chinese-Japanese Cook Book |
| C. Fox Smith | United Kingdom | 1 February 1882 | 8 April 1954 | poet, nautical writer, novelist, short story writer, travel writer. | All the Way Round: Sea Roads to Africa, A Book of Shanties, A Sea Chest: an Anthology of Ships and Sailormen, Ancient Mariners: Some Salt Water Yesterdays |
| Russell Davenport | United States | 1899 | 19 April 1954 | writer, magazine editor. | My Country, A Poem of America, The Dignity of Man |
| Earnest Hooton | United States | 20 November 1887 | 3 May 1954 | physical anthropologist, cartoonist, humorist. | Up From The Ape, Apes, Men, and Morons, Young Man, You are Normal, Breed War Strain Out of Germans |
| Constantin Beldie | Romania | 8 September 1887 | 11 June 1954 | journalist, publicist, memoirist, satirist, translator. | Gloss on the Bookish Spirit, What Is It We Want? A Catechism for Indecisive Souls, People Seen from Up Close |
| Grantland Rice | United States | 1 November 1880 | 13 July 1954 | sportswriter, poet. | Songs of the Stalwart, The Tumult and the Shouting, Base-Ball Ballads: Grantland Rice, Casey's Revenge |
| Jacinto Benavente | Spain | 12 August 1866 | 14 July 1954 | playwright. | The Unloved Woman, The Bonds of Interest, The Lady of the House |
| Julián Padrón | Venezuela | 8 September 1910 | 2 August 1954 | novelist, short story writer, playwright, journalist, publisher. | Primavera Nocturna, Este Mundo Desolado, Parásitas Negras |
| Colette | France | 28 January 1873 | 3 August 1954 | novelist, short story writer, actress, journalist. | Gigi, The Tendrils of the Vine, Claudine at School |
| Miles Franklin | Australia | 14 October 1879 | 19 September 1954 | novelist, playwright. | My Brilliant Career, All That Swagger, On Dearborn Street, My Career Goes Bung |
| W. J. Gruffydd | United Kingdom | 14 February 1881 | 29 September 1954 | scholar, poet, editor. | Lyrics |
| Oswald de Andrade | Brazil | 11 January 1890 | 22 October 1954 | novelist, playwright, poet, cultural critic. | Manifesto Antropófago (Anthropophagist Manifesto), Manifesto Pau-Brasil (Manifesto of Pau-Brasil Poetry) |
| Ludovic Dauș | Romania | 1 October 1873 | 17 November 1954 | novelist, playwright, poet, translator. | Unto Death, Akmiutis, Eglà |
| Lucien Tesnière | France | 13 May 1893 | 6 December 1954 | linguist. | Elements of Structural Syntax, Petite grammaire russe |
| James Hilton | United Kingdom | 9 September 1900 | 20 December 1954 | novelist, screenwriter. | Lost Horizon, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, Random Harvest |

## Entering the public domain in the United States

In the United States, the copyright status of works extends for the life of the author or artists, plus 70 years. If the work is owned by a corporation, then the copyright extends 95 years.
Due to the passing of the Copyright Term Extension Act (Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act) in 1998, no new works would enter the public domain in this jurisdiction until 2019.