# 2018 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 2018. Since laws vary globally, the copyright status of some works are not uniform.

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

With the exception of Belarus and Spain (which is Life + 80 for creators who 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, 2018. For previously unpublished material, those who publish it first will have the publication rights for 25 years.
| Names | Country | Birth | Death | Occupation | Notable work |
| James Agate | United Kingdom | 9 September 1877 | 6 June 1947 | Writer, critic | Ego |
| Tilly Aston | Australia | 11 December 1873 | 1 November 1947 | Educator, writer | |
| Joseph Barcroft | United Kingdom | 26 July 1872 | 21 March 1947 | Physiologist | The Respiratory Function of the Blood |
| W. Augustus Barratt | United States | 3 June 1873 | 12 April 1947 | Composer | Sir Patrick Spens |
| Marie Adelaide Belloc Lowndes | United Kingdom | 5 August 1868 | 14 November 1947 | Novelist | The Lodger |
| J. D. Beresford | United Kingdom | 17 March 1873 | 1 February 1947 | Science fiction and horror author | The Hampdenshire Wonder |
| Augustin Bernard [fr] | France | 26 August 1865 | 29 December 1947 | Geographer | Les Confins algéro-marocains |
| Tristan Bernard | France | 7 September 1866 | 7 December 1947 | Playwright | Mémoires d'un jeune homme rangé |
| Jean-Richard Bloch | France | 25 May 1884 | 15 March 1947 | Writer | |
| Luigi Bonelli | Italy | 20 September 1865 | 26 January 1947 | Orientalist | Lessico italiano-turco |
| Pierre Bonnard | France | 3 October 1867 | 23 January 1947 | Painter, printmaker | |
| Wolfgang Borchert | Germany | 20 May 1921 | 20 November 1947 | Playwright | Draußen vor der Tür |
| Angela Brazil | United Kingdom | 30 November 1868 | 13 March 1947 | Children's books author | |
| Óscar Castro Zúñiga | Chile | 29 March 1910 | 1 October 1947 | Writer | Llampo de Sangre, Camino en el alba, Comarca del jazmín |
| Willa Cather | United States | 7 December 1873 | 24 April 1947 | Writer | My Ántonia |
| Dmitry Censor | Russia | 22 December 1877 | 26 December 1947 | Poet | |
| George Chatterton-Hill | Ireland | 1883 | 12 January 1947 | Philosopher | Heredity and Selection in Sociology |
| Édouard Chatton | France | 11 October 1883 | 23 April 1947 | Biologist | |
| Winston Churchill | United States | 10 November 1871 | 12 March 1947 | Novelist | The Celebrity |
| Ananda Coomaraswamy | United States | 22 August 1877 | 9 September 1947 | historian, philosopher | The Dance of Shiva |
| Aleister Crowley | United Kingdom | 12 October 1875 | 1 December 1947 | Poet | Bibliography |
| Franz Cumont | Belgium | 3 January 1868 | 20 August 1947 | archeologist | Texts and Illustrated Monuments Relating to the Mysteries of Mithra |
| Petras Cvirka | Lithuania | 12 March 1909 | 2 May 1947 | Author | Frank Kruk |
| Josef Čapek | Czech | 23 March 1887 | April 1945 | Painter, writer | All About Doggie and Pussycat |
| Anton Denikin | Russia | 16 December 1872 | 8 August 1947 | Soldier, writer | Russian Turmoil |
| Walter Donaldson | United States | 15 February 1893 | 15 July 1947 | Songwriter | Makin' Whoopee, Yes Sir, That's My Baby |
| Hans Fallada | Germany | 21 July 1893 | 5 February 1947 | Writer | Der junge Goedeschal, Little Man, What Now? |
| Irving Fisher | United States | 27 February 1867 | 29 April 1947 | Economist | The Purchasing Power of Money |
| Desmond FitzGerald | Ireland | 13 February 1888 | 9 April 1947 | Architect | |
| Henry Ford | United States | 30 July 1863 | 7 April 1947 | Business magnate | The International Jew |
| John Ulrich Giesy | United States | 6 August 1877 | 8 September 1947 | Writer, physician | Palos of the Dog Star Pack |
| Victor Goldschmidt | Norway | 27 January 1888 | 20 March 1947 | Mineralogist | Geochemische Verteilungsgesetze der Elemente |
| Reynaldo Hahn | France | 9 August 1874 | 28 January 1947 | Composer | Ciboulette |
| G. H. Hardy | United Kingdom | 7 February 1877 | 1 December 1947 | Mathematician | A Mathematician's Apology |
| Frank Heller | Sweden | 20 July 1886 | 14 October 1947 | Writer | The London Adventures of Mr. Collin |
| Frederick Gowland Hopkins | United Kingdom | 20 June 1861 | 16 May 1947 | Biochemist | Feeding experiments illustrating the importance of accessory factors in normal dietaries |
| Blanche Hoschedé Monet | France | 10 November 1865 | 8 December 1947 | Painter | |
| Victor Horta | Belgium | 1 June 1861 | 9 August 1947 | Architect | |
| Albert Howard | United Kingdom | 8 December 1873 | 20 October 1947 | Botanist | An Agricultural Testament |
| Ricarda Huch | Germany | 18 July 1864 | 17 November 1947 | Author | The Deruga Case |
| Stanislav Hudeček [cs] | Czech Republic | 26 March 1872 | 15 April 1947 | Painter and illustrator | |
| E.M. Hull | United Kingdom | 16 August 1880 | 11 February 1947 | Novelist | The Sheik |
| Pierre Janet | France | 30 May 1859 | 24 February 1947 | Psychologist | La médecine psychologique |
| Afevork Ghevre Jesus | Ethiopia | 10 July 1868 | 25 September 1947 | Writer | Ləbb Wälläd Tarik |
| Elizabeth Jordan | United States | 9 May 1865 | 24 February 1947 | Journalist, suffragist, author | |
| Pyotr Krasnov | Russia | 22 September 1869 | 17 January 1947 | Soldier, writer | From Double Eagle To the Red Flag |
| Karel Langer [cs] | Czech Republic | 16 January 1878 | 2 May 1947 | Painter | |
| Richard Le Gallienne | United Kingdom | 20 January 1866 | 15 September 1947 | author, poet | |
| C. Louis Leipoldt | South Africa | 28 December 1880 | 12 April 1947 | Poet | |
| Philipp Lenard | Germany | 7 June 1862 | 20 May 1947 | Physicist | Quantitative on cathode rays |
| Friedrich von Lerch [de] | Austria | 30 May 1878 | 19 December 1947 | Physicist | Separation of radium C from radium E |
| Hugh Lofting | United Kingdom | 14 January 1886 | 26 September 1947 | Writer | Doctor Dolittle series |
| Ernst Lubitsch | Germany | 28 January 1892 | 30 November 1947 | Director | |
| Manuel Machado | Spain | 29 August 1874 | 19 January 1947 | Poet and playwright | La Lola se va a los puertos |
| Arthur Machen | United Kingdom | 3 March 1863 | 15 December 1947 | Fantasy and horror author | The Great God Pan, The Three Impostors, The Hill of Dreams, The White People |
| Karl Mannheim | United Kingdom | 27 March 1893 | 9 January 1947 | Sociologist | Ideology and Utopia |
| Henri Manuel | France | 24 April 1874 | 11 September 1947 | Photographer | |
| William Moulton Marston | United States | 9 May 1893 | 2 May 1947 | Psychologist, inventor, comic book writer | Wonder Woman, DISC assessment |
| Anatole de Monzie | France | 22 November 1876 | 11 January 1947 | Encyclopaedist | Grandeur et servitude judiciaires |
| Yone Noguchi | Japan | 8 December 1875 | 13 July 1947 | Writer | The American Diary of a Japanese Girl |
| Emma Orczy | United Kingdom | 23 September 1865 | 12 November 1947 | Novelist, Playwright | The Scarlet Pimpernel |
| P. D. Ouspensky | Russia | 5 March 1878 | 2 October 1947 | Mathematician, esotericist | |
| Friedrich Paschen | Germany | 22 January 1865 | 25 February 1947 | Physicist | Ueber die zum Funkenübergang in Luft, Wasserstoff und Kohlensäure bei verschiedenen Drucken erforderliche Potentialdifferenz |
| John Henry Patterson | United Kingdom | 10 November 1867 | 18 June 1947 | Soldier, hunter, author | The Man-Eaters of Tsavo |
| Reginald Payne | United Kingdom | 7 June 1909 | 20 December 1947 | Illustrator | The Railway Series |
| Júlio Afrânio Peixoto | Brazil | 17 December 1876 | 12 January 1947 | Writer | |
| Max Planck | Germany | 23 April 1858 | 4 October 1947 | Scientist | |
| R. I. Pocock | United Kingdom | 4 March 1863 | 9 August 1947 | Zoologist | The Fauna of British India |
| Carl Adolph Preyer | United States | 28 July 1863 | 16 November 1947 | Composer | Festal Polonaise, Op.14 |
| Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz | Switzerland | 24 September 1878 | 23 May 1947 | Author | Beauty on Earth |
| Forrest Reid | United Kingdom | 24 June 1875 | 4 January 1947 | Novelist | Young Tom |
| Nicholas Roerich | Russia India | 9 October 1874 | 13 December 1947 | Painter, writer | |
| Borys Romanowski | Georgia | 1879 | 1947 | Polish painter active in Georgia | |
| Margaret Marshall Saunders | Canada | 13 May 1861 | 15 February 1947 | Writer | |
| Johannes Schubert. | Austria | 11 June 1859 | 29 September 1947 | Physicist | |
| Emil Schovánek | Czech Republic | 10 September 1885 | 11 July 1947 | Painter | |
| Alexander Scott | United Kingdom | 28 December 1853 | 10 March 1947 | Chemist | An Introduction to Chemical Theory |
| Kathleen Scott | United Kingdom | 27 March 1878 | 25 July 1947 | Sculptor | |
| Victor Serge | Belgium | 30 December 1890 | 17 November 1947 | Marxist revolutionary, writer | From Lenin to Stalin, Destiny of a Revolution |
| M. P. Shiel | Montserrat | 21 July 1865 | 17 February 1947 | Horror and science fiction author | The Purple Cloud, The Yellow Danger |
| Andrei Shkuro | Russia | 19 January 1887 | 17 January 1947 | Soldier, memoirist | |
| Alfred Walter Stewart | United Kingdom | September 1880 | 1 July 1947 | Chemist, Writer | Nordenholt's Million |
| Alan Sullivan | Canada | 29 November 1868 | 6 August 1947 | Writer | The Great Divide |
| Flora Thompson | United Kingdom | 5 December 1876 | 21 May 1947 | Novelist, poet | Lark Rise to Candleford |
| Mstislav Tsyavlovsky | Russia Soviet Union | 26 June 1883 | 11 November 1947 | Literary scholar | |
| Jim Tully | United States | 3 June 1886 | 22 June 1947 | Writer | Beggars of Life |
| Marcel Varnel | France | 16 October 1892 | 13 July 1947 | Film Director | |
| E. C. Vivian | United Kingdom | 19 October 1882 | 21 May 1947 | Writer, editor | Fields of Sleep |
| Sidney Webb | United Kingdom | 13 July 1859 | 13 October 1947 | | |
| Alfred North Whitehead | United Kingdom | 15 February 1861 | 30 December 1947 | Mathematician | Process and Reality |
| Anna Wickham | United Kingdom | 1883 | 30 April 1947 | Poet | Songs of John Oland |
| Émile Auguste Joseph De Wildeman | Belgium | 19 October 1866 | 24 July 1947 | Botanist | |
| Almroth Wright | United Kingdom | 10 August 1861 | 30 April 1947 | Bacteriologist | The Unexpurgated Case against Woman Suffrage |
| Riichi Yokomitsu | Japan | 17 March 1898 | 30 December 1947 | Writer | |
| Eduard von Zambaur [de] | Austria | 11 May 1866 | 10 October 1947 | Orientalist | Die Münzprägungen des Islams |

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

In most countries of Africa and Asia, as well as Belarus, Bolivia, Canada, New Zealand and Uruguay; a work enters the public domain 50 years after the creator's death.
| Names | Country | Birth | Death | Occupation | Notable work |
| J. R. Ackerley | United Kingdom | 4 November 1896 | 4 June 1967 | Writer, editor | My Dog Tulip, We Think the World of You |
| Ciro Alegría | Peru | 9 November 1909 | 17 February 1967 | Journalist, novelist | El mundo es ancho y ajeno |
| Gordon Allport | United States | 11 November 1897 | 9 October 1967 | psychologist | Becoming: Basic Considerations for a Psychology of Personality |
| Norman Angell | United Kingdom | 26 December 1872 | 7 October 1967 | journalist, author, politician | The Great Illusion |
| Tudor Arghezi | Romania | 21 May 1880 | 14 July 1967 | poet, novelist, essayist | Cuvinte Potrivite, Zdreanță |
| Marcel Aymé | France | 29 March 1902 | 14 October 1967 | Novelist, children's writer, playwright | The passer-through-walls |
| Margaret Ayer Barnes | United States | 8 April 1886 | 25 October 1967 | playwright, novelist, short-story writer | Years of Grace |
| Vladimir Bartol | Slovenia | 24 February 1903 | 12 September 1967 | Writer | Alamut |
| Frank Bruno | New Zealand | 1910 | 12 July 1967 | Writer, cartoonist, boxer | Black Noon at Ngutu, The Hellbuster |
| John Coltrane | United States | 23 September 1926 | 17 July 1967 | Saxophonist, composer | Giant Steps |
| Isaac Deutscher | United Kingdom | 3 April 1907 | 19 August 1967 | Biographer | Stalin: a Political Biography |
| Julien Duvivier | France | 8 October 1896 | 29 October 1967 | film director, screenwriter | Sous le ciel de Paris |
| Ilya Ehrenburg | Russia | 27 January 1891 | 31 August 1967 | writer, journalist, translator | Black Book, The Thaw |
| Sidney Bradshaw Fay | United States | 13 April 1876 | 29 August 1967 | Historian | The Origins of the World War |
| Varian Fry | United States | 15 October 1907 | 13 September 1967 | Journalist | The Peace that Failed, Surrender on Demand |
| Hein Gorny [de] | Germany | 21 April 1904 | 14 June 1967 | Photographer | Collection at Deutsche Fotothek |
| Che Guevara | Argentina | 14 June 1928 | 9 October 1967 | Communist revolutionary, author | Guerrilla Warfare |
| Robert van Gulik | Netherlands | 9 August 1910 | 24 September 1967 | writer, diplomat, translator | The Chinese Maze Murders |
| Woody Guthrie | United States | 14 July 1912 | 3 October 1967 | singer-songwriter | This Land Is Your Land |
| Edward Hopper | United States | 22 July 1882 | 15 May 1967 | Painter | Nighthawks |
| Langston Hughes | United States | 1 February 1902 | 22 May 1967 | Writer | The Weary Blues |
| Lajos Kassák | Hungary | 21 March 1887 | 22 July 1967 | Poet, writer, painter | |
| Margaret Kennedy | United Kingdom | 23 April 1896 | 31 July 1967 | Novelist, playwright | The Constant Nymph, Troy Chimneys |
| Joseph Kesselring | United States | 21 July 1902 | 5 November 1967 | playwright | Arsenic and Old Lace |
| Zoltán Kodály | Hungary | 16 December 1882 | 6 March 1967 | Composer, philosopher, ethnomusicologist | Psalmus Hungaricus |
| Wolfgang Köhler | Germany | 21 January 1887 | 11 June 1967 | Psychologist | The Mentality of Apes, Gestalt Psychology |
| Josefina Lerena Acevedo de Blixen [es] | Uruguay | 13 February 1889 | 12 November 1967 | Writer, journalist | Reyles |
| Douglas MacLean | United States | 10 January 1890 | 9 July 1967 | actor, writer | Mama Loves Papa |
| René Magritte | Belgium | 21 November 1898 | 15 August 1967 | Painter | The Difficult Crossing, The Treachery of Images |
| John Masefield | United Kingdom | 1 June 1878 | 12 May 1967 | Poet, novelist | The Everlasting Mercy, Sea-Fever |
| André Maurois | France | 26 July 1885 | 9 October 1967 | author | The Silence of Colonel Bramble |
| Carson McCullers | United States | 19 February 1917 | 29 September 1967 | Novelist, playwright, poet | The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, The Member of the Wedding |
| Edgar Neville | Spain | 28 December 1899 | 23 April 1967 | playwright, film director | |
| Christopher Okigbo | Nigeria | 16 August 1932 | September 1967 | Writer | |
| J. Robert Oppenheimer | United States | 22 April 1904 | 18 February 1967 | Physicist, professor | |
| Joe Orton | United Kingdom | 1 January 1933 | 9 August 1967 | Playwright | The Ruffian on the Stair, Entertaining Mr Sloane |
| Dorothy Parker | United States | 22 August 1893 | 7 June 1967 | Writer | Enough Rope |
| Violeta Parra | Chile | 4 October 1917 | 5 February 1967 | Composer, songwriter | Gracias a la Vida |
| Arthur Ransome | United Kingdom | 18 January 1884 | 3 June 1967 | Writer, journalist | Swallows and Amazons series |
| Otis Redding | United States | 9 November 1941 | 10 December 1967 | Singer, songwriter | Respect |
| Elmer Rice | United States | 28 September 1892 | 8 May 1967 | playwright | The Adding Machine, Street Scene |
| Gerhard Ritter | Germany | 6 April 1888 | 1 July 1967 | Historian | Luther: Gestalt und Symbol |
| José Martínez Ruiz | Spain | 8 June 1873 | 2 March 1967 | Novelist, essayist, literary critic | La ruta de Don Quijote, La voluntad, Antonio Azorín |
| Carl Sandburg | United States | 6 January 1878 | 22 July 1967 | Poet, writer, journalist | Abraham Lincoln: The War Years, Chicago Poems |
| Siegfried Sassoon | United Kingdom | 8 September 1886 | 1 September 1967 | poet, soldier, writer | Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man |
| Philippa Schuyler | United States | 2 August 1931 | 9 May 1967 | Journalist, pianist | Adventures in Black and White |
| Walter Terence Stace | United Kingdom | 17 November 1886 | 2 August 1967 | Philosopher, academic, | Mysticism and Philosophy |
| Billy Strayhorn | United States | 29 November 1915 | 31 May 1967 | Composer, lyricist | Take the "A" Train, Lush Life |
| Jean Toomer | United States | 26 December 1894 | 30 March 1967 | Poet, novelist | Cane |
| Pavlo Tychyna | Ukraine | 23 January 1891 | 16 September 1967 | poet, statesman, | |
| Paul Whiteman | United States | 28 March 1890 | 29 December 1967 | Bandleader, composer | Flamin' Mamie |
| Ossip Zadkine | France | 4 July 1890 | 25 November 1967 | Artist | The Destroyed City |
| Wolfgang Zeller | Germany | 12 September 1893 | 11 January 1967 | Composer | |
| João Guimarães Rosa | Brazil | 27 June 1908 | 19 November 1967 | Writer | Sagarana |

## Entering the public domain in Australia

In 2004 copyright in Australia changed from a "plus 50" law to a "plus 70" law, in line with America and the European Union. But the change was not made retroactive (unlike the 1995 change in the European Union which bought some e.g. British authors back into copyright, especially those who died from 1925 to 1944). Hence the work of an author who died before 1955 is normally in the public domain in Australia; but the copyright of authors was extended to 70 years after death for those who died in 1955 or later, and no more Australian authors would come out of copyright until 1 January 2026 (those who died in 1955).

## Entering the public domain in the United States

The Copyright Term Extension Act means no published works would enter the public domain in this jurisdiction until 2019. Only unpublished works whose authors died in 1947 enter the public domain.
On January 26, 2018, Ludlow Music, the music publisher for We Shall Overcome, agreed in a legal settlement that the song is in the public domain.
On February 27, 2018, the video game One Hour One Life was released into the public domain.