Popeye and Tintin to Enter the Public Domain in 2025

The classic cartoon Popeye and the popular comic book character Tintin will enter the public domain in 2025. Both first appeared in 1929 and, as of January 1, 2025, will no longer be protected by copyright in the United States, allowing for their use and repurposing without permission or compensation.

Along with Mickey Mouse, who entered the public domain last year, Popeye and Tintin are part of a group of iconic characters whose extensive histories in comics, TV shows, and movies will now be free for creators to explore.

Tintin and Popeye are not the only world-famous IPs entering the public domain in 2025

There is a series of other remarkable intellectual properties that will be joining Popeye and Tintin in the public domain in 2025.

According to Jenniffer Jenkins, the director of Duke’s Center for the Study of the Public Domain, these include “masterpieces from Faulkner and Hemingway, the first sound films from Alfred Hitchcock, Cecil B. DeMille and John Ford, and amazing music from Fats Waller, Cole Porter, and George Gershwin.”

It is worth mentioning that, as with Mickey Mouse and Winnie the Pooh, only the earliest version of Popeye is free to reuse. This means that the version that would have to be used for repurposing is Popeye’s 1929 version.

Tintin was first published on this day, 95 years ago! pic.twitter.com/caZy9oLXzY

— Joy Bhattacharjya (@joybhattacharj) January 10, 2024

This is especially significant considering that the spinach that famously gave the character his strength was not a part of the show from the very beginning. Thus, including it may result in legal disputes.

The same is true of Popeye’s cartoons which began in 1933 and Robert Altman’s 1980 film, which remains under copyright protection.

Books entering the public domain in 2025 are gems of American literature

As Jenniffer Jenkins has mentioned, the books entering the public domain in the coming year, 2025, are masterpieces. For instance, The Sound and the Fury, which many consider to be William Faulkner’s Mangum Opus, enters the public domain next year, as well.

Despite making for challenging reading, the novel tells the story of the collapse of a wealthy family in Mississippi. Faulkner was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for this novel of his.

Another outstanding addition to the public domain collection is Ernest Hemingway’s novel A Farewell to Arms. This is a partially autobiographical telling of an ambulance driver’s experience in Italy during WWI. The book cemented Hemingway as one of the best American writers of all time.

Another remarkable writer whose work will enter the public domain in 2025 is British novelist Virginia Woolf, as her essay, A Room of One’s Own, also enters the public domain. Mrs. Dalloway, another Woolf novel, is already in the public domain in the United States.