Share This IDAHO FALLS (KSL.com) — New Year’s Day isn’t just the start of 2021, it’s the first day that thousands upon thousands of pieces of artwork, music and literature from 1925 history enter the world of public domain. If you’re unfamiliar with public domain, it’s a collection of materials that no longer have copyright or intellectual property rights that is now available for the public to expand on. All works — from songs to novels to inventions — eventually end up there for future generations to build on. Duke University’s Center for the Study of Public Domain explains it this way: You still have to buy a copy of Homer’s “The Odyssey” but you don’t have to jump through legal hoops to turn ideas from it into new, modern-day pieces, like when the Coen Brothers used it to create the movie “O Brother Where Art Thou?” The most noticeable every-day examples of the public domain can be found in stores when purchasing generic medicines and products.