Welcome to a brand new season of White Market Podcast! We couldn’t really step into a new year without celebrating Public Domain Day.

On this episode, we interviewed Anna Mazgal from the Communia Association, one of the policy organizations that has been working most closely with public domain issues. Communia actively pushes for European legislation that safeguards the public domain, as well as users’ rights.

According to the Wikipedia, “the public domain consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. In the European Union - with the exception of Spain - copyright on published works expires 70 years after the author's death. This means that the (most) works of those who passed away in 1949 are now under the public domain in (most) EU member states.

Here are some examples of works that are now under public domain in Europe:

• the music scores by Richard Strauss, Joaquín Turina and Nikos Skalkottas
• the novel "Gone With the Wind" by Margaret Mitchell and all her works
• the works of Literature Nobel prize-laureates Maurice Maeterlinck and Sigrid Undset
• the works by art-deco pioneer Alexandra Ekster

Happy Public Domain Day and happy new year!

• Also Sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss, performed by Kevin MacLeod // CC BY
• Sonate Es-Dur fur Violine und Klavier, Op. 18, III. Finale. Andante - Allegro by Richard Strauss, performed by Oliver Colbentson // CC PD

This interview was recorded a long time ago and Anna Mazgal hasn’t been part of Communia for quite a while, but she still works towards the same goals as part of the Wikimedia team.