Theoretically, I can use Shakespeare

[PoojaI]

ALL of Shakespeare’s works are public domain. You can use any and all of his works in your stories, including lines. He’s also been dead for several hundred years so no worries about copyright with him

Movies etc, that were INSPIRED from Shakespeare stories are of course off limits (West Side Story, She’s The Man, 10 Things I Hate About You etc)

Here’s a link to Episode’s statement on fanfiction and public domain works.

@Tyler

Hi writingspirit!

Thank you for your question.

As of January 1st 2019, creative works made as recent as 1923 are public domain, so authors are free to use, reuse, or adapt all that content.

Here’s a neat article from earlier this year:

Lifehacker

These 1923 Copyrighted Works Enter the Public Domain in 2019

For the first time in twenty years, as the Atlantic points out, a whole year’s worth of copyrighted works will enter the public domain in the U.S. on January 1, 2019. Under the terms of the Sonny Bono Copyright Act, works first published in 1923 will…

Something to keep in mind is that while fairy tales like Snow White or Cinderella ARE public domain and authors are free to write about and adapt them, the Disney versions DO possess copyright so if you plan on writing these types of fairy tales it has to be the older versions and not ones that are interpreted as the Disney versions.