As per the 95 year limit on copyrights, everything created in 1926 now belongs to the people.
Winnie-the-Pooh, author A.A. Milne’s first book about the honey-gorged bear who lives in Hundred Acre Wood. The title was first published in 1926, which means it’s now subject to a 1988 law stipulating works enter the public domain 95 years following their release or publication.
Another key children’s title, Felix Salten’s Bambi: A Life in the Woods, is also now free for anyone to use.
Other notable written works from that year that are now copyright-free are The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway’s novel about American and British expatriates; Dorothy Parker’s poetry collection Enough Rope; and The Weary Blues by Langston Hughes. A classic Agatha Christie murder mystery, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, is also on the list.
Films featuring major stars of the era are also being redefined, including the Buster Keaton vehicle Battling Butler and Greta Garbo’s The Temptress.
While Milne’s first Pooh book is subject to the public domain release, it doesn’t apply to Disney’s cartoon iteration or any of Milne’s subsequent books. (Yet.) The same goes for Bambi, where public domain wouldn’t be relevant to Disney’s 1942 animated version.
This is the biggest character to go public domain yet. It will be interesting to see if Winnie the Pooh begins to be used openly. I would expect a slew of Winnie the Pooh children's products and advertisements.
Winnie-the-Pooh, Bambi, now public domain