Public domain and movies.

Are movies originally made between 1939-1963 in the Public Domain?

[Jesse_Smith]

Are movies that were originally made between 1939-1963 in the Public Domain? I got a bunch of new DVDs of movies that were originally made back then and no where on the case does it even say anything about a copyright.

[Leosghost]

No they're not ..play them ..the copyright info actually only needs to be in the "credits" ..and for law not even there .

[Dan_Norder]

Some may be, but I wouldn't assume so unless you had someone who knows the changing copyright laws during various years thoroughly research it. The vast majority wouldn't be public domain.

[streetshirts]

The movies might well be, like books where copyright expires after a certain number of years, and classical music.

However, it is possible to own the copyright for a current recording or print (layout) of one of these, so while the movie MAY be public domain, the recording almost certainly is not.

So, you can't copy the DVDs!

[martinibuster]

Many of these laws serve to protect Mickey Mouse [writ.news.findlaw.com].