McButton

What is the ruling on public domain movies? I heard the original Night of the Living Dead had no copyright, and that is why there are 100s of studios releasing it on dvd. I recently found a dvd copy online of Bad Ronald, and it was listed in public domain. However, I have a vhs original that has copyrights all over it. How is it justified that people can sell these movies if they were released by studios in 1974?

Please help me to clarify this.

Thanks!

domino harvey

Bad Ronald is an American film and so I doubt it's in the public domain if it's from 1974, I think someone lazily is offering a film they don't own the rights to for profit. More here if you have a copy of the film on hand.

Silverscreenvid

Before 1978, copyright protection was 28 years and could be renewed for another 28 years. In 1978, the law was changed so that copyrights were a minimum of 75 years (for works for hire) or life plus 70 years (for works written by a natural author). Any work still protected by copyright in 1978 had its copyright extended by what eventually became 67 years, so that the earliest any copyright valid in 1978 can expire is 2045.

However, until 1992, authors still had to renew their copyrights in order to get the full legal protection. So, any works written before 1964 whose copyrights expired and were not renewed are in the public domain.

The situation is a little more complicated for more recent films. Under the law that took effect in 1978, the author of a work has a copyright even if the work is never published and even if it is never registered with the copyright office (registration does entitle the author to greater damages and makes proof of infringement easier). However, under earlier law for works written before 1978, the author of a work had to fulfill all the requirements of registering his copyright properly in order to have protection.

For example, a work has to have a copyright notice (that c with a circle around it or the word "copyright"). All the proper registration fees had to be paid and copies of the work sent to the copyright office. If a work was published without the notice or proper registration, then it fell into the public domain. A number of low budget productions never bothered to follow the rules if and when they chose to file for a copyright. Companies that specialize in public domain works researched the records carefully, looking for mistakes which they could use to their advantage. Undoubtedly, this is how Night of the Living Dead and other works from the 1960's and 70's wound up in the public domain.

Silverscreenvid

Even if a work is in the public domain, that does not mean it is completely without protection. If I make a DVD of a public domain film, I can copyright my DVD version of it and that protects me from someone duplicating my work and making a profit off it. They are free to get their own source copy of the work and create their own DVD but they can't copy mine. This is why companies like Something Weird that specialize in public domain films have valuable properties. They have pristine master prints and make their own copyrighted DVD's off those prints, which means anyone else wanting to make a DVD of the film would have to get his own master print, which is virtually impossible in many cases.

eedoon

As someone who collects public domain content from the Internet, I found your post to be very informative. Thanks Silverscreenvid

McButton

Likewise. That was more than expected, yet I want to know more. Thanks guys!

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

Also, you may find a movie that is in the public domain but music in the movie isn't. If a company wanted to sell it, they'd either have to remove the music or get the rights to the music.

McButton

So much to know. You'd think that everyone would just leave it alone instead of trying to make money off of something that they didn't make.

TomOpus

That's odd logic. Doesn't matter who makes it... if you own the rights, you deserve to make money off of it.

Nick Danger

It's like mining. You stake a claim to that coal, repackage it, and sell it for a profit.

Silverscreenvid

The whole purpose of copyright law is to encourage people to create by granting them a limited exclusivity in exchange for eventually allowing the public to have the right to it. In the middle ages, much art and music was commissioned by wealthy patrons who kept it to themselves, depriving the public of any chance to experience it.

Under prior law, with a maximum 56 years protection, a few elderly authors faced the painful reality of losing the rights to their earliest works at a time when they needed the money the most. That's why the law was extended to life plus 70 years which made sure that an author would always be able to receive the benefit of what he or she had created and that it would be a valuable asset to pass on to loved ones. They also did away with the renewal requirement which only served to trip up authors who weren't as up on what they needed to do as they should be.

Actually, the copyright for works for hire which was originally 75 years was recently expanded to 95 years because Disney faced the prospect of losing the rights to the earliest Mickey Mouse cartoons and was able to lobby Congress successfully for an increase.

The copyright law does serve a vital function because it does protect the authors but it also ensures that eventually, all works of art are available for everyone to enjoy. Otherwise, the works of Shakespeare, Dickens, Poe and other classics could be tied up forever as the property of a widening number of increasingly distant relatives.

dhmac

Now that's a "Mickey Mouse Law" if I've ever heard one!

(The copyright extension was passed in 1998 - so when it's almost 2018, expect another lobby-driven extension.)

McButton

So, once Disney's extension is up, it can't be renewed because the original creator is dead? Since it can't be renewed, does that mean that anyone can profit off of the original or even current likeness of Mickey Mouse or the cartoons?

Also, with a work being released for the public to enjoy...how does that work? If I write a book and die, my kids will gain the rights to it for a period of time. Then what happens? Everyone can stake a claim on it? Does anyone receive any money? Is it just like...anyone that makes a copy of this book can legally sell it once the copyright is up or does a copyright have the ability to be purchased by an outside company once it has expired?

This is interesting stuff.

Jah-Wren Ryel

In the USA, the original copyright term was 14 years, optionally renewable for another 14 years if the author was still alive and applied for the renewal. Over the years it has been repeatedly extended and at one point it even was made retro-active for foreign works that had already entered the public domain.

Consider that under the original terms of copyright - all movies made before 1980 would be in the public domain today. All that classic rock which still gets so much airplay would be in the public domain. We, as a society have paid a very high price for these copyrights.

Unlike just about every one else in the world who has to figure out how to actually save for their retirement. What makes these people so special?

The US Constitution says, "To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries..." it does not say "To provide for those creative people who were spendthrifts in their youth."

It is also worth noting that while copyright terms have been repeatedly extended, patent terms have not and remain at their original term of 17 years (except for a bunch of 'private laws' which specifically extended the patents on various drugs, bought and paid for by campaign contributions). Why are scientists less privileged than writers?

Yeah, unless the MAFIAA get their way and are able to lock everything up inside the DRM vault. Sure, its in the public domain, but its encrypted so tough titties American public, your culture will never truly be yours.

Jah-Wren Ryel

I suggest you read Free Culture by Stanford Law Professor Lawrence Lessig who argued a copyright case (and lost) before the supreme court. The book is available at Amazon and many large bookstores or you can download the entire book in PDF form from that first website.

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

Don't worry. Around that time the government will protect us from fraudulent Mickey's by extending it again.