Movies in public domain

C

collele

Member
I've been doing some research on movies in public domain and I just had the question, if a film is in the public domain, is it legal to put parts of that film in your own film?

Not literally cut in the movie in public domain, but to have a character be watching it on television or something without having to pay royalties for it?

I've checked google and wikipedia, but there's not really anything specific to the question I've got. I'm hoping I can get more of a straight answer here.

Thanks in advance.
 
If it's really in the public domain, then yes, you can do whatever you want with it.

Make sure that it is, though.
 
But don't we get into a weird gray area here? For instance, I know of a movie from 1955 or so that has Lloyd Bridges in it. Now, I have a feeling that even though the movie itself is in public domain, you still couldn't use it because of "likeness rights" for the actors or something to that effect. I'd be really cautious with using actual movie footage from the public domain, maybe even go so far as to check with a lawyer. You can never be too careful when it comes to this kind of legal stuff.
 
Karl151k said:
But don't we get into a weird gray area here? For instance, I know of a movie from 1955 or so that has Lloyd Bridges in it. Now, I have a feeling that even though the movie itself is in public domain, you still couldn't use it because of "likeness rights" for the actors or something to that effect. I'd be really cautious with using actual movie footage from the public domain, maybe even go so far as to check with a lawyer. You can never be too careful when it comes to this kind of legal stuff.
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I believe public domain only applies after 75 years.
 
you could do frankenstien nosferatu dracula metropolis etc. also goes for novels ideas.
 
Wow. Thanks for the quick responses. I didn't know it was that easy.

Besides making sure that the film is in the public domain, I thought it would be more difficult than that.
 
You will often see Capra's IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE playing in the background of many films. Interestingly, the visuals are said to be inthe public domain, but the soundtrack is NOT.
 
Sometimes you will have to send letters to different agencies requesting information on whether or not it's public domain. If you make something, then it's released and a rights holder *does* exist, you may be able to prove that you searched for a rights holder to the best of your ability and one never emerged.

For some reason, I recall Night of the Living Dead being public domain for some reason. I found it at archives.org or something some while ago and I'm not sure if that's the exact one, but one of those is. It was due to a legal bug of some kind (copyright wasn't renewed) but I'm pretty sure one of them is public.
 
yeah it night becuase thats how come night of the living dead 3d was able to b called what it is but have a slighty different story.
 
MiniMan13 said:
I believe public domain only applies after 75 years.
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There are a bunch (huge bunch) of films that are PD now because the copyright holders didn't renew them in time/properly.

The old law was severely broken.

Those "50 <whatever> Films" DVD boxes you can get cheap...those are mostly films that fell through the cracks in the law.
 
collele said:
Wikipedia lists movies like His Girl Friday, Last Man On Earth, and Last Time I Saw Paris as public domain. Even "M" and "Rashomon" are listed!

Can these really be truly in public domain?

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Category:Public_domain_films&until=Project+Moonbase
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You have to look up each film up on it's own, because it depends from film to film. Before January 1, 1964 a copyright lasted for 28 years, and then it could be renewed for another 28 years (later changed to 67 years).

If the copyright was renewed, the film might not be in the public domain. If it was not renewed, then it is in the public domain.
 
Also, I believe any US Govt footage (shot with taxpayer money) is PD after one year. I know this is true for a lot of NASA stuff.
 
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