Public domain in the US, the EU and the UK

The Phantom of the OperaGaston Leroux, 1910

Leroux's 1910 novel is free. The songs, the lyrics and the white half-mask belong to the 1986 musical.

First published
1910
Author died
1927
Original language
French
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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 1910, before 1931: the 95-year US term for works of that age has run out.
European Union and United KingdomPublic domain since 1 January 1998. Gaston Leroux died in 1927, 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.

A ghost haunts the Paris Opera, demanding a salary and Box Five. The young singer Christine Daaé hears a voice that teaches her to sing, while her childhood friend Raoul de Chagny falls in love with her. The voice is Erik, a disfigured genius living by a lake beneath the building, who abducts Christine to keep her for himself.

Free to use

  • The novel, serialised in 1909 and published in 1910, in French, and the 1911 English translation by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos.
  • Erik as Leroux describes him: thin as a skeleton, with deep eye sockets, yellow skin stretched over the bones and almost no nose.
  • The falling chandelier, the masked ball, the lake under the Opera, the Persian, Box Five.
  • Any version: a thriller, a horror film, a modern opera house, a series.

Watch out for

  • The songs, lyrics, staging and the white half-mask of Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1986 musical are protected. Write your own music.
  • The 1925 silent film is in the US public domain, but check its status in other countries before you reuse its footage.
  • Recent photos of the real Palais Garnier are protected, and filming there needs permission. Generate your own opera house.
  • AI models associate the Phantom with the half-mask. Describe Leroux's Erik in your art direction.

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

An adaptation idea

The Persian's investigation: the Phantom as a detective story, told by the one man who knows Erik's past.

Format: A feature, or a five-episode series following the Persian's account.

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 French text or the 1911 translation below and save it as a PDF with a text layer, which ScreenWeaver reads for free.
  2. 2Attach it to a project and ask for the characters and places. Write Erik's story element from Leroux's description.
  3. 3Write the art direction: gaslit 1880s Paris, the backstage machinery, the cellars and the lake. Add your own style image.
  4. 4Ask for the scenes, then the shots, keeping Erik in shadow until the unmasking.
  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 The Phantom of the Opera from a legal source

Questions

Is The Phantom of the Opera in the public domain?
The novel is. Gaston Leroux published it in 1910 and died in 1927, so it is free in the US, the EU and the UK. The 1986 musical is a separate work and is protected.
Can my Phantom wear a half-mask?
A half-mask as such is a common object, but combined with the musical's look it points straight at that production. Leroux's Erik is a better and safer starting point.
Can I use songs from the musical?
No. Music and lyrics need a licence from their owners. Use an original score or public domain music, and check the recording you use too.

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

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