image by flickr user cronncc

January 1, 2015 was a momentous day — not because it was the start of a new year, but because it saw the works of Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond, enter the public domain in Canada and a few other countries.

Now, before you start filming your own Bond movie or releasing the books for free in Kindle format for your friends to read in class, remember that the intricacies of copyright law mean that the books are not in the public domain here in the US, and nothing that is unique to the movie versions is in the public domain in any country. i09 has a succinct write up that covers the basics.

If you’d like to learn more about the public domain, the Berne Convention, or international copyright law in general, the GSU libraries have a good selection from which to choose. The University Library also has books about Ian Fleming and a few of the Bond books/movies, including the under-appreciated Quantum of Solace.

“Do you expect me to talk?”

“No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to live on in popular culture for years to come!”