History Main / PublicDomainCharacter

* The ''webcomic Webcomic/{{Lightbringer}} was released into the public domain on September 20, 2013 - which includes the titular hero, associates, and RoguesGallery.

* The webcomic Webcomic/Lightbringer was released into the public domain on September 20, 2013 - which includes the titular hero, associates, and RoguesGallery.

* Just as with films (see above), there are many American-produced TV series that have fallen into public domain. Or, as the case may be, only selected episodes have. Examples include the '50s ''Franchise/{{Dragnet}}'' series, ''{{Bonanza}}'', many early episodes of ''TheBeverlyHillbillies'', ''Series/PetticoatJunction'' (most of its first season, in fact), and about a dozen episodes of the ''Dick Van Dyke Show''. In some cases DVD and VHS releases of these episodes have to be re-edited to remove elements that are still in copyright, such as theme music.

* [[{{Dracula}} Count Dracula]], Abraham Van Helsing, and all the other Creator/BramStoker characters.

* [[DonGiovanni Don Juan]]

* HGWells's [[Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds Martians]]
* [[TwentyThousandLeaguesUnderTheSea Captain Nemo]]

* The first five books of Creator/EdgarRiceBurroughs' Mars series, where JohnCarterOfMars appeared, were published before 1923 and are out of copyright in the USA.

* Several of Creator/HPLovecraft's characters, including Herbert West and Randolph Carter. Additionally, Lovecraft actually encouraged other writers to use the CthulhuMythos in other works, thus making the mythos in general, and such characters as Cthulhu, and Yog-Sothoth are essentially in the public domain. (Only "Dagon" (1919) and "Nyarlathotep" (1920) are undeniably public domain in the United States.)

**** They weren't ''sued'' so much as Chaosium demanded that TSR put a ShoutOut to them prominently on the credits page of ''Deities and Demigods'', for TSR's use of both the Cthulhu and Elric universes (even though in the latter case, MichaelMoorcock himself had given TSR his enthusiastic blessing to use his characters Chaosium license or no.) After the first printing, someone at TSR said "this is nuts -- why are we giving free advertising to a competitor?" and decided to strip both the infringing material and the shout out from the book.

* [[TreasureIsland Long John Silver]] and associates.

* {{Zorro}} ''should'' be public domain, since his first story was 1919 and he appeared in a silent film in 1920, but in 2005 Sony sent a cease-and-desist to a company, Sobini, which wanted to make a Zorro movie. Sobini sued Sony in 2005 to try to get a decision that Sobini could use the character, but the outcome of this suit, if any, remains unreported. What news can be found is confusing and contradictory (such as news articles claiming that Sobini "acquired the rights" to the public domain 1919 story).

* The first two Creator/AgathaChristie books, including her famous character HerculePoirot, but only in the US.

* FuManchu.
** The first three Fu Manchu books were published prior to 1922 and are public domain in the USA; however, some characters are not public domain since they were introduced later, particularly his daughter Fah Lo Suee, who was only named in a later book. This has caused problems for MarvelComics, who cannot reprint ''Master of Kung Fu'', which uses not only Fu Manchu but other characters from the series. For instance, the martial arts hero Shang-Chi is a Marvel character and the son of Fu Manchu. Many stories refer to Shang's father being a Chinese crimelord but he is never seen or mentioned by name. Also, Fu Manchu is not in the public domain in Europe (Rohmer died in 1959), and Alan Moore could not name him in ''LeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen''.
** Similarly, it is strongly intimated in the novelization of ''TheAdventuresOfBuckarooBanzaiAcrossTheEighthDimension'' that Hanoi Xan, the [[HeWhoMustNotBeSeen unseen]] BigBad who was completely edited out of the movie, is in fact Fu Manchu, but never explicitly stated.

** One of Creator/LewisCarroll's minor stories, "What the Tortoise Said to Achilles", written in 1895, was appropriated (with acknowledgment) by Douglas R. Hofstadter as a model for the dialogues in ''[[GodelEscherBach Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid]]''. The characters of the Tortoise and Achilles had in turn been suggested by [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeno%27s_paradoxes an ancient Greek paradox]].

* PeterPan

* ConanTheBarbarian is public domain in the United Kingdom, and everywhere in the EU, since January 2007 (70 years after the death of Creator/RobertEHoward). In Australia and Canada, all the Conan stories published by Howard in his lifetime had been in the public domain since 1987. In the USA, at least two-thirds of the Conan stories actually by Howard (as opposed to [[PosthumousCollaboration posthumous "collaborations"]] with Creator/LSpragueDeCamp and others) are also in the public domain, since the copyrights were not renewed. However, anyone planning on doing their own version of Conan must be careful not to upset the '''trademark''' holder, [[http://www.conan.com/ip.shtml Conan Properties International, which has defended the mark very energetically]].[[note]]As noted above, ads for ConanOBrien's new show ''Conan'' contain the notice "CONAN is used with the permission of Conan Properties International LLC.".[[/note]] It should also be noted that many other aspects of the Conan setting (e.g. ''Comicbook/RedSonja'') are not from the original Howard stories and are still under copyright.

* The first LordPeterWimsey novel, ''Whose Body?'', is in the public domain in the US and Canada, but not in the UK or Europe.

** TheBlackCoats, and works made retroactively in continuity with them, JohnDevil, Literature/GentlemenOfTheNight, ''Bell Demonio'' and it's sequel ''The Companions of Silence''.
** ''Le Bossu'' birth the novel and Play, but not any of his many post 1923 films or the Play's recent Translation by Frank Morlock.
** TheVampireCountess, {{Knightshade}} and VampireCity

Given Congress' willingness to extend copyright duration any time Hollywood demands it, it is entirely possible that -- in America at least -- the pool of public domain characters has reached its maximum size and will grow no larger, except by accident or oversight. 2010 marked a year where no new additions were made to public domain in America from works with expiring copyrights, a statistic which will repeat for several more years unless the law changes appropriately ([[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Domain_Enhancement_Act And there is a a law in progress trying to do just that]]). Worse yet, as of January 2012 it is now possible in the United States for [[http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/01/scotus-re-copyright-decision/ works to be taken back out of the public domain]], leading to the inevitable conclusion that the pool of public domain characters has not only reached its maximum size, it is likely to ''shrink''. (Ironically, the very same Hollywood corporations responsible for the original copyright durations would probably be the first to fight tooth and nail to ''keep'' certain properties in the public domain, if only so that they could continue making movies with some of the characters mentioned below.)

** TheBlackCoats, and works made retroactively in continuity with them, JohnDevil, GentlemenOfTheNight ect.

* All works of Creator/PaulFeval including any of the few rare English Translations made while he was alive. But not the recent Translations made by [[BlackCoatPress.com Black Coat Press]] or Borgo Press.
** TheBlackCoats, and works made retroactively in continuity with them, JohnDevil, GentlemenOfTheNight ect.
** ''Le Bossu'' birth the novel and Play, but not any of his many post 1923 films or the Play's recent Translation by Frank Morlock.
** TheVampireCountess, {{Knightshade}} and VampireCity

** Sherlock Holmes illustrates the differences in international copyright law. The first stories have never had copyright in the US. When ''Franchise/StarTrek'' first included them, Paramount almost '''did''' get sued because they were [[http://www.sherlockian.net/acd/copyright.html still under copyright in the UK]].

* JennyEverywhere, the comic-book character, was explicitly ''created'' to serve this purpose. She's as close to public domain as modern copyright law permits of modern creations.

* The entire point of "WebOriginal/{{Fanpro}}". All of the characters are public domain, and there's no canon besides what the fans create.

* Just as with films (see above), there are many American-produced TV series that have fallen into public domain. Or, as the case may be, only selected episodes have. Examples include ''{{Dragnet}}'', ''{{Bonanza}}'', many early episode of ''TheBeverlyHillbillies'', ''Series/PetticoatJunction'' (most of its first season, in fact), and about a dozen episodes of the ''Dick Van Dyke Show''. In some cases DVD and VHS releases of these episodes have to be re-edited to remove elements that are still in copyright, such as theme music.

[[folder: Anime and Manga]]
* ''{{Naruto}}'': [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiraiya Jiraiya, Tsunade, Orochimaru]], and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sasuke_Sarutobi Sasuke Sarutobi]].
[[/folder]]

** Dynamite Entertainment has used about any public domain superhero they could get their hands on in the pages of ''ProjectSuperpowers''. This includes nearly all of the characters previously seen in ''Terra Obscura''.

** At around the same time as ProjectSuperpowers, ImageComics started the Next Issue Project. Unlike most of the above-mentioned projects, which updated the characters for modern sensibilities, the Next Issue Project is more of a {{Retraux}} AffectionateParody, with [[TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]]-style stories, issues the size of Golden Age comics rather than modern comics, and even vintage ads.

* ''OutOfPrint'' is a {{Webcomic}} focusing [[TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] {{Super Hero}}es and the humor of being {{Public Domain Character}}s

** Centaur's John Aman, AKA Amazing-Man, was a member of the supporting cast of Marvel's ''ImmortalIronFist'' as [[spoiler: The Prince of Orphans]], which is fitting since, according to Roy Thomas, Iron Fist's co-creator, Iron Fist was based on the Amazing Man.

* Most, if not all, of Creator/GKChesterton's characters are this, due to his publishing them in the nineteenth century. They're not often used for this purpose, but FatherBrown has been known to have a {{cameo}} here and there.

* [[{{Dracula}} Count Dracula]].

** Dynamite Entertainment has used about any public domain superhero they could get their hands on in the pages of ''ProjectSuperpowers''.

** Centaur's John Aman, AKA Amazing-Man, recently joined the supporting cast of Marvel's ''ImmortalIronFist'' as [[spoiler: The Prince of Orphans]], which is fitting since, according to Roy Thomas, Iron Fist's co-creator, Iron Fist was based on the Amazing Man.

** Not to be confused with the Son Goku from [[{{Saiyuki}} Gensomaden Saiyuki]], [[{{Patalliro}} Patalliro Saiyuki]], LightNovel/{{Gokudo}}...

* Many of the ArseneLupin stories are in the public domain in the United States, including the famous "crossovers" with Sherlock Holmes. At the time they were written Doyle put and end to Leblanc's efforts and the detective was forced to match wits with the GentlemanThief under the pseudonyms "Herlock Sholmes" and "Holmlock Shears." Now that both characters are freely available US publishers tend to publish the stories the way they were intended with the two great literary characters intersecting as [[WorthyOpponent Worthy Opponents]].