Many copyright systems calculate a term through 31 December of the final protected year. The work enters the public domain on 1 January of the following year.
For a United States work with a 95-year publication term, the site adds 95 years to the publication year, carries protection through that 31 December, then reports 1 January as the public domain date. A work first published in 1931 therefore has a general maximum date of 2027-01-01 (1 January 2027).
Life-based terms use the same calendar-year convention in many countries. If an author died in 1950 and the applicable term is life plus 70, protection generally runs through 2020-12-31 (31 December 2020), with a public domain date of 2021-01-01 (1 January 2021).
Exceptions exist, including the United States schedule for some pre-1972 sound recordings. A date should always travel with its rule and jurisdiction.
Reviewed 2026-09-11. This guide is a research aid, not legal advice.