>>104450201I don't think there is a comprehensive list; there's way too many things to keep track of. The only thing I'm certain of is that most anything published (and authorized) before 1923 is public domain. In January, stuff from 1923 will be public domain.
Then there's the stuff that was published, but didn't get their copyrights renewed on their 28th year before 1964. Those might've fallen into the public domain.
Then there's stuff before 1978 that had improper copyright notices or no copyright notices at all, like Night of the Living Dead. Those were automatically public domain.
Most people aren't aware of a lot of things. Like I said above, it's also how Warner/Chappelle Music managed to get away with charging people for using "Happy Birthday" song until a court judged that they didn't really hold the copyright for the full song.
But don't forget though, sometimes some sites devoted to PD stuff may be in the wrong. Like for instance there may be things on
archive.org that aren't PD.
