Public domain in the US, the EU and the UK

PinocchioCarlo Collodi, 1883

Collodi's 1883 book is free, and much darker than the films. Disney's puppet, Jiminy Cricket's name and look, and recent films belong to their makers.

First published
1883
Author died
1890
Original language
Italian
Start my adaptationOriginal texts

Copyright status

Copyright ends at different dates in different countries. Here is where this work stands in the three places most readers release in.
WhereStatus
United StatesPublic domain. First published in 1883, before 1931: the 95-year US term for works of that age has run out.
European Union and United KingdomPublic domain since 1 January 1961. Carlo Collodi died in 1890, and the term is 70 years after the end of the year of death.
Other countriesMost countries protect a work for 50 to 100 years after its author's death, and some have transition rules. If you release or sell in a specific country, check its law.

Status checked on October 26, 2026 against the sources listed in our legal guide.

The old woodcarver Geppetto carves a puppet from a talking piece of wood and names him Pinocchio. The puppet runs away at once and keeps running into trouble: he kills the Talking Cricket who gives him advice, is robbed and hanged by the Fox and the Cat, is helped by the Fairy with turquoise hair, is turned into a donkey in the Land of Toys, and is swallowed by a huge shark, inside which he finds Geppetto. Only by caring for his father does he become a real boy.

Free to use

  • The 1883 Italian book and its old translations.
  • Pinocchio, Geppetto, the Talking Cricket, the Fox and the Cat, the Fairy with turquoise hair, Lampwick, Mangiafuoco and the shark.
  • The nose that grows when Pinocchio lies.
  • Enrico Mazzanti's illustrations for the first edition (Mazzanti died in 1910).

Watch out for

  • Disney's 1940 design (the Tyrolean outfit, the hat), the name Jiminy Cricket and the songs are protected. In Collodi, the Cricket has no name and is killed early.
  • In the book Pinocchio is swallowed by a shark, not a whale: the whale Monstro is Disney's.
  • Recent films, including Guillermo del Toro's (2022), own their designs and scripts. Recent translations are protected.
  • AI models lean heavily towards the Disney puppet. Describe Collodi's (and Mazzanti's) and check each frame.

The full rules, with the laws and court decisions behind them, are in our guide to adapting public domain works.

An adaptation idea

The darker Pinocchio: Collodi's original serial, which ended with the puppet hanged from a tree.

Format: A feature, or a twelve-episode series of short chapters.

Adapt it in ScreenWeaver

These are the steps as they run in ScreenWeaver today. You read and edit every step, and you start every generation yourself, in the app.

  1. 1Get the Italian text or an old English translation from Project Gutenberg (links below) and save it as a PDF with a text layer.
  2. 2Attach it to a series project and ask for the characters, places and objects. Create Pinocchio and the real boy as two states of one character.
  3. 3Write the art direction from Mazzanti: a poor Tuscan village, the Land of Toys, the inside of the shark. Add a style image of your own.
  4. 4Ask for the scenes, then the shots of each scene.
  5. 5Generate the frames in Storyboard, then the clips in Production.

How a whole book becomes scenes and shots: novel to storyboard.

Original texts

Where to get Pinocchio from a legal source

Questions

Is Pinocchio public domain?
Yes. Carlo Collodi published the book in 1883 and died in 1890. It is free in the US, the EU and the UK.
Can I use Jiminy Cricket?
No. The name and character were created by Disney. Collodi's cricket is unnamed, and you can use it.
Was Pinocchio swallowed by a whale?
In the book it is a giant shark. The whale is from the Disney film.

General information, not legal advice. Copyright, trademark and personality rights depend on the country and on the facts of each project. For a commercial release, have a lawyer check your chain of rights.

Other works to adapt

Start your adaptation.

Import Pinocchio, build the cast and the places, write the scenes and cut them into shots. The Screenwriter plan is free.
Start my adaptation