Last year’s holiday blog post featured the beloved film, It’s a Wonderful Life, a movie that has fallen in and out of copyright several times. The elements of Christmas and copyright appear to be connected often, leading to more curiosity about all things copyright Christmas.
Done with finals and care to go caroling? Want to bottle your own Christmas spirits with the image of Santa? Planning to use holiday songs in some holiday-themed bingo? If caroling or holiday music bingo (holiday spirits optional) are on your agenda, know that not all festive tunes performed at Christmas are all free use for us to enjoy. While it is true that a neighborly sing along or family gathering doesn’t rise to the level of a public performance, requiring permission to use, it is interesting to note the songs which have entered the public domain, and which are under copyright and require permission.
Perennial favorites such as Deck the Halls, The Twelve Days of Christmas, and Jingle Bells are all in the public domain. However, songs such as Frosty the Snowman, created in 1950 by Steve Nelson and Jack Rollins remains protected by copyright.
For a list of Christmas songs in the public domain, check out the list from PD Info or ChoralWiki. The United States Copyright Office Public Catalog shows all the copyrights registered with the US copyright office from 1978 onwards.
Although some festive songs are covered by copyright, it’s not widely known that the character of Santa himself is not copyrighted at all! The image of Santa Claus was designed for Coca Cola in 1931 by illustrator Haddon Sundblom and although Coca Cola owns the rights to the images produced by Sundblom, the character of Santa himself remains copyright free. While Coca-Cola played a role in making that version of Santa the one everyone recognizes, it did not invent it and holds no rights to it.
Speaking of Santa images, if you are interested in crafting your own brew, with Santa Claus’ image, in both Ohio and D.C., it’s illegal to use Santa Claus’ image in advertising for alcohol, so keep the distribution amongst friends.
If you are interested in more interesting facts and laws about Christmas, check out HeinOnline Blog for the Holidays with their blog post: The 12 Bizarre Laws of Christmas and Happy Holidays from UConn Law!