How can I find out if a movie/series is still restricted by copyright?
My understanding is that determining copyright is not always as simple as adding a number of years to the date a movie was first released/a series was first aired.
What resources are there to determine if a movie/series is still under copyright or not?
I have classic movies including silent movies in mind, hence the tag. I couldn't find any other applicable tags. Perhaps 'legal-status' which could in future include banned movies and other interesting tidbits?
Best Answer
It depends on the country and the individual factors can be complicated. But the easiest way is to check if it already appears on a list of public domain films.
For example, Wikipedia's "List of films in the public domain in the United States" has plenty of information about determining public domain status, including:
If a film appears on the list below, there is a high probability it has lost some or all of its United States copyright protection (or in the case of U.S. government films, was never protected by copyright).
There is no single method for determining if a film, or parts of it, is in the public domain. There are several methods that can be used to document a film’s public domain status.
The Internet Archive has feature films for download and streaming, and have a FAQ to help determine whether a film is in the public domain.
Pictures about "How can I find out if a movie/series is still restricted by copyright?"
How do you check if a movie is copyrighted?
Examine the work for a copyright notice.What movies a have expired from copyright?
Free to Use and Reuse: Public Domain Films from the National Film Registry- St. Louis Blues.
- Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor.
- The House I Live In.
- The Middleton Family at the New York World's Fair.
- Modesta.
- Master Hands.
- The Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress.
- All my babies...a midwife's own story.
How long are movies protected by copyright?
In the United States, motion pictures are copyrighted for 95 years. All motion pictures made and exhibited before 1927 are indisputably in the public domain in the United States.How long until a movie is public domain?
PUBLIC DOMAIN DEFINITION In the United States, any motion pictures made and featured before 1925 are permanently within the public domain. Current public domain laws state that any new films have copyrights for 95 years. This means movies released in 1925 enter the public domain in 2021.Use Movie Clips Without Copyright [YouTube Approves!]
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