Welcome to Learning English, a daily 30-minute program from the Voice of America.

I'm Katie Weaver.

And I'm Mario Ritter, Jr.

This program is designed for English learners, so we speak a little slower, and we use

words and phrases especially written for people learning English. Coming up on the show, the everyday

grammar report. We also hear the American language. Coming up on the show, the Everyday Grammar Report.

We also hear the American Story,

The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, by Mark Twain.

But now, Dorothy Gundy and I have this report.

Popeye the Sailor and the Belgian boy reporter Tintin lead the class of characters and works of art to enter public domain in 2025.

On January 1st, 2025, the U.S. copyright ends on creations from 1929.

That means the early versions of the comic characters can be used without permission or payment.

They will be joined by the books A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway and The Sound

and the Fury by William Vaulkner.

Other works coming into the public domain include songs from American artist Cole Porter,

early films from Alfred Hitchcock and the Marx Brothers, and several more films starring Mickey Mouse,

whose earliest version became public domain last year. It's a trove. There are a dozen new

Mickey cartoons.

He speaks for the first time and dons the familiar white gloves, said Jennifer Jenkins,

Director of the Center for the Study of the Public Domain, part of Duke University Law School in North Carolina.

There are 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,

...