# 2008 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 2008. 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, 2008.
| Names | Country | Birth | Death | Occupation | Notable work |
| J. M. Barrie | United Kingdom | 9 May 1860 | 19 June 1937 | novelist, playwright. | The Little White Bird, Peter and Wendy |
| Julian Bell | United Kingdom | 4 February 1908 | 18 July 1937 | poet, book editor. | Winter Movement, Work for the Winter |
| Jean de Brunhoff | France | 9 December 1899 | 16 October 1937 | children's writer, illustrator. | The Story of Babar, Babar and Father Christmas |
| Ellis Parker Butler | United States | 5 December 1869 | 13 September 1937 | short story writer, essayist. | Pigs Is Pigs, Philo Gubb, The Correspondence School Detective |
| Ralph Connor | Canada | 13 September 1860 | 31 October 1937 | novelist. | Black Rock, a Tale of the Selkirks, The Gay Crusader |
| Frederic Taber Cooper | United States | 27 May 1864 | 20 May 1937 | magazine editor, historian. | Word formation in the Roman Sermo Plebeius. An historical study of the development of vocabulary in vulgar and late Latin, with special reference to the Romance languages, History of the Nineteenth Century in Caricature |
| John Drinkwater | United Kingdom | 1 June 1882 | 25 March 1937 | poet, dramatist. | Abraham Lincoln, The Death of Leander |
| Florence Dugdale | United Kingdom | 12 January 1879 | 17 October 1937 | children's writer, biographer. | The Book of Baby Birds, The Later Years of Thomas Hardy, 1892–1928 |
| Edward Garnett | United Kingdom | 5 January 1868 | 19 February 1937 | writer, critic, literary editor. | The Breaking Point, a Censured Play. With Preface and a Letter to the Censor, The great war in 1916, a neutral's indictment |
| Ivor Gurney | United Kingdom | 28 August 1890 | 26 December 1937 | poet, composer. | Five Elizabethan Songs , The Western Playland |
| Elizabeth Haldane | United Kingdom | 27 May 1862 | 24 December 1937 | biographer, philosopher. | From One Century to Another: The Reminiscences of Elizabeth S. Haldane, The Scotland of our Fathers: A Study of Scottish Life in the Nineteenth Century |
| W. F. Harvey | United Kingdom | 14 April 1885 | 4 June 1937 | horror fiction writer. | August Heat, Midnight House and Other Tales |
| William F. Lloyd | Newfoundland | 17 December 1864 | 13 June 1937 | journalist, newspaper editor. | editor of The Telegram |
| H. P. Lovecraft | United States | 20 August 1890 | 15 March 1937 | writer of weird fiction, fantasy, and horror fiction. | The Call of Cthulhu, The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath |
| Don Marquis | United States | 29 July 1878 | 29 December 1937 | humorist, novelist, poet, newspaper columnist, and playwright. | The Dark Hours, archy and mehitabel |
| H. C. McNeile | United Kingdom | 28 September 1888 | 14 August 1937 | writer of thrillers and war stories. | Bulldog Drummond, The Black Gang |
| Chūya Nakahara | Japan | 29 April 1907 | 22 October 1937 | poet, translator. | Goat Songs, Songs of Bygone Days |
| Tomas O'Crohan | Republic of Ireland | 21 December 1856 | 7 March 1937 | diarist, memoirist. | Island Cross-Talk, The Islandman |
| Horacio Quiroga | Uruguay | 31 December 1878 | 19 February 1937 | playwright, poet, short story writer. | Stories of Love, Madness, and Death, Jungle Tales |
| Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo | Madagascar | 4 March 1901 | 22 June 1937 | poet, novelist, opera writer, literary critic, journal editor. | The Cup of Ashes, The Red Dawn |
| Albert Verwey | Netherlands | 15 May 1865 | 8 March 1937 | poet, translator, literary historian. | Persephone |
| Edith Wharton | United States | 24 January 1862 | 11 August 1937 | novelist, short story writer. | The Age of Innocence, The House of Mirth |

## 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 |
| Sholem Asch | Poland | 1 November 1880 | 10 July 1957 | dramatist, essayist, novelist. | In a Bad Time, God of Vengeance |
| Arturo Barea | Spain | 20 September 1897 | 24 December 1957 | autobiographer, radio broadcaster. | The Forging of a Rebel, Struggle for the Spanish Soul |
| Roy Campbell | South Africa | 2 October 1901 | 23 April 1957 | literary critic, poet, satirist, translator. | The Wayzgoose: A South African Satire, The Georgiad – A Satirical Fantasy in Verse |
| Joyce Cary | Ireland | 7 December 1888 | 29 March 1957 | poet, short story writer. | Mister Johnson, The Horse's Mouth |
| A. E. Coppard | United Kingdom | 4 January 1878 | 13 January 1957 | poet, short story writer. | Fearful Pleasures, Nixey's Harlequin |
| William Craigie | United Kingdom | 13 August 1867 | 2 September 1957 | lexicographer, philologist. | editor for the Oxford English Dictionary, founding editor of the Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue |
| Alfred Döblin | Germany | 10 August 1878 | 26 June 1957 | essayist, novelist. | Berlin Alexanderplatz, The Three Leaps of Wang Lun |
| Lord Dunsany | Ireland | 24 July 1878 | 25 October 1957 | short story writer, playwright, novelist, poet. | The King of Elfland's Daughter, The Gods of Pegāna |
| May Edginton | United Kingdom | 20 December 1883 | 17 June 1957 | novelist, playwright. | Secrets, The Prude's Fall |
| Ernest Elmore | United Kingdom | 4 November 1901 | 8 November 1957 | crime novelist, fantasy writer. | The Lake District Murder, The Cornish Coast Murder |
| Rose Fyleman | United Kingdom | 6 March 1877 | 1 August 1957 | children's writer, playwright, poet, translator. | There are fairies at the bottom of our garden, Lift your hidden faces |
| Oliver St. John Gogarty | Ireland | 17 August 1878 | 22 September 1957 | playwright, oet. | Blight, As I Was Going Down Sackville Street |
| Barbu Lăzăreanu | Romania | 5 October 1881 | 19 January 1957 | bibliographer, literary historian, satirist. | Constantin Radovici, Agatha Bârsescu, Nora Marinescu, Slabs and Debris from Epidaurus' Temple |
| José Lins do Rego | Brazil | 3 July 1901 | 12 September 1957 | novelist. | Menino de engenho (Plantation boy), Pureza |
| Malcolm Lowry | United Kingdom | 28 July 1909 | 26 June 1957 | novelist, poet. | Under the Volcano, Ultramarine |
| Curzio Malaparte | Italy | 9 June 1898 | 19 July 1957 | filmmaker, war correspondent. | Kaputt, The Skin |
| Mait Metsanurk | Estonia | 19 November 1879 | 21 August 1957 | novelist, short story writer, playwright. | Ümera jõel (On the Ümera River), Uues korteris |
| Gabriela Mistral | Chile | 7 April 1889 | 10 January 1957 | poet. | Sonetos de la Muerte (Sonnets of Death), Despair |
| Christopher Morley | United States | 5 May 1890 | 28 March 1957 | essayist, journalist, novelist, poet. | Parnassus on Wheels, The Haunted Bookshop |
| Mulshankar Mulani | Gujarat | 1 November 1867 | 14 December 1957 | playwright. | Saubhagya Sundari, Barrister |
| John Middleton Murry | United Kingdom | 6 August 1889 | 12 March 1957 | essayist, literary critic. | God: An Introduction to the Science of Metabiology, Katherine Mansfield and Other Literary Portraits |
| Leo Perutz | Austria | 2 November 1882 | 25 August 1957 | horror novelist, mathematician. | From Nine to Nine, The Master of the Day of Judgement |
| Rhoda Power | United Kingdom | 29 May 1890 | 9 March 1957 | children's writer, historical novelist. | Redcap Runs Away, From the Fury of the Northmen: and Other Stories That Shaped Our Destiny in 18th to 19th Century England |
| Dorothy Richardson | United Kingdom | 17 May 1873 | 17 June 1957 | novelist, journalist. | Pilgrimage, Pointed Roofs |
| Kenneth Roberts | United States | 8 December 1885 | 21 July 1957 | historical novelist. | Northwest Passage, Lydia Bailey |
| Dorothy L. Sayers | United Kingdom | 13 June 1893 | 17 December 1957 | crime novelist, literary critic, playwright, poet, translator. | The Nine Tailors, Whose Body? |
| Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa | Italy | 23 December 1896 | 23 July 1957 | historical novelist. | The Leopard, The Professor and the Siren |
| Stanley Vestal | United States | 15 August 1887 | 25 December 1957 | biographer, historian, novelist. | Kit Carson, the Happy Warrior of the West, Sitting Bull-Champion of the Sioux-a Biography |
| Laura Ingalls Wilder | United States | 7 February 1867 | 10 February 1957 | novelist, journalist. | Little House in the Big Woods, Little House on the Prairie |
| Alfred Eckhard Zimmern | United Kingdom | 26 January 1879 | 24 November 1957 | classical scholar, historian, political scientist. | The Greek Commonwealth: Politics and Economics in Fifth Century Athens, The Third British Empire |
| Louis B. Mayer | United States | 12 July 1884 | 29 October 1957 | Filmmaker | |

## 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.