Are Claude Monet's works public domain?

Answer 1

This is a complex question. All works first published before 1923 by Claude Monet or anyone else are in the public domain in the United States. Since he only lived to 1926, this is most of his works. In most other nations, all his works are now expired because he has been dead longer than 80 years (possible exception: Mexico, which has a term 100 years after the author's death). Another very peculiar except is that his works published 1923 or later may be copyrighted in the United States under the URAA, provided that they were still in copyright in France in 1996, and they will remain so until 95 years after the date of first publication. On the other hand in 1996 France's term of copyright was only 50 years after the death of the author, but this was later retroactively extended. However at least one decision (see the related link in French) suggests that because these works were not in copyright in 1996, they were not restored, and so they're all in the public domain in the US as well.

Update: I've learned more about French copyright since I wrote this, and it gets much more complex, but here's what you need to know. Any works first published by Monet in France before his death are in the public domain in both France and the United States. In France, rights were retroactively extended to 70 years after the author's death, and that has expired. Almost all countries in the world use a term of at most 80 pma, so rights are expired throughout Europe, Latin America, Asia, Australasia, Canada, etc. Mexico's extension to 100 years after the author's death was in 2003 and not retroactive, so they are PD in Mexico too.

United States: On France's URAA date in 1996, French works still had copyright for only 50 years after the author's death, plus wartime extensions of 8 years and 120 days. Since Monet died before 1937, his works were public domain in France then as well, and consequently their copyright was not restored in the US. So they are public domain there too. Some of his works were published before 1921, and so may have received additional wartime extensions (up to 14 years and 272 days), but these works predate 1923 and so are PD in the US regardless.

Just about the only nation in the world where they are *not* in the public domain is Côte d'Ivoire, which observes copyright for 99 years after the death of the author and does not follow the rule of the shorter term. Note that the above does not apply to any works published later on after his death, nor to works first published outside France, or published in the US within 30 days (I'm not aware of any such works but they may exist). In particular, any works first published in the UK, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Turkey, or Spain in 1923 or later are still in copyright in the United States under the URAA.