When a work's copyright expires, it enters the public domain. Since laws vary globally, the copyright status of some works are not uniform. The following is a list of creators whose works enter the public domain in 2031 under the most common copyright regimes, assuming no further extensions to copyright terms become law in the interim.
Except for Belarus (Life + 50 years) and Spain (which has a copyright term of Life + 80 years for creators that died before 1988), a work enters the public domain in Europe 70 years after the creator's death, if it was published during the creator's lifetime. In addition, several other countries have a limit of 70 years. The list is sorted alphabetically and includes a notable work of the creator.
In Bangladesh, India, and Venezuela a work enters the public domain 60 years after the creator's death.
In most countries of Africa and Asia, as well as Belarus, Bolivia, New Zealand, Egypt and Uruguay, a work enters the public domain 50 years after the creator's death.
Spain has a copyright term of life + 80 years for creators that died before 1988. In Colombia and Equatorial Guinea, a work enters the public domain 80 years after the creator's death.
Under the Copyright Term Extension Act, books published in 1935, films released in 1935, and other works published in 1935 will enter the public domain in 2031. Sound recordings published in 1930 and unpublished works whose authors died in 1960 will also enter the public domain.
Notable films that will enter the public domain in 2031 include Best Picture Academy Award winner Mutiny on the Bounty starring Clark Gable and Charles Laughton, Universal horror films Bride of Frankenstein and Werewolf of London, Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps, John Ford's The Informer with Victor McLaglen, Busby Berkeley's Gold Diggers of 1935, Max Reinhardt's adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream with Olivia de Havilland and James Cagney, Captain Blood with Errol Flynn, George Cukor's adaptation of David Copperfield with Frank Lawton, The Lives of a Bengal Lancer with Gary Cooper, Top Hat starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, the Marx Brothers comedy A Night at the Opera, Naughty Marietta with the first pairing of Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy, The Little Colonel with Shirley Temple and Lionel Barrymore, Will Rogers' final films Steamboat Round the Bend and In Old Kentucky, Tumbling Tumbleweeds with Gene Autry in one of his first starring roles, Henry Fonda's film debut The Farmer Takes a Wife, Hop-Along Cassidy with William Boyd (the first film to star the title character), the musical film Metropolitan (20th Century Fox's first film under that name), Alberto Cavalcanti's Bristis coal mining documentary Coal Face, Boris Barnet's film By the Bluest of Seas, Leni Riefenstahl's Nazi propaganda film Triumph of the Will, the first color Mickey Mouse cartoon The Band Concert as well as the first teamings of Mickey with Donald Duck and Goofy, the Silly Symphony cartoons The Tortoise and the Hare and Three Orphan Kittens, and I Haven't Got a Hat with the debut of the oldest recurring Looney Tunes character, Porky Pig.
Important literary works entering the public domain include Agatha Christie's crime novels Death in the Clouds and Three Act Tragedy, John Steinbeck's novel Tortilla Flat, Mary Poppins Comes Back by P. L. Travers, Christopher Isherwood's novel Mr Norris Changes Trains, Dorothy L. Sayers' detective novel Gaudy Night introducing Lord Peter Wimsey, Georgette Heyer's novel Regency Buck, Sinclair Lewis' It Can't Happen Here, Rex Stout's The League of Frightened Men, Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House on the Prairie, Ernest Hemingway's Green Hills of Africa, T. E. Lawrence's autobiography Seven Pillars of Wisdom, Hardy Boys novel The Hidden Harbor Mystery, Nancy Drew novel The Message in the Hollow Oak, Clifford Odets' plays Waiting for Lefty, Awake and Sing!, Till the Day I Die and Paradise Lost, T. S. Eliot's play Murder in the Cathedral, and Yasunari Kawabata's Snow Country in its original Japanese. The earliest appearances of the comic strip character Little Lulu will also enter the public domain.
Works of art entering the public domain include René Magritte's The Portrait and the second version of his Human Condition, Joan Miró's Metamorphosis, Pablo Picasso's Jeune Fille Endormie, and M. C. Escher's lithograph Hand with Reflecting Sphere. The first edition of the board game Monopoly will also enter the public domain.
Examples of notable musical works entering the public domain include the popular songs "Cheek to Cheek", "When I Grow Too Old to Dream", and "Red Sails in the Sunset"; Sergei Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 2; and George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess.