Talk:List of films in the public domain in the United States/2014


Driller Killer

Why it was removed? --ɴõɴəχүsƚ 21:23, 20 January 2014 (UTC)

I don't recall that title. But probably because there is no reliable source that confirms the film is PD. -- GreenC 04:51, 21 January 2014 (UTC)

Public Domain Review

This source is marginal as a reliable source for determining film copyright status.

  • Despite giving the appearance of a journal, it is not academic or peer reviewed and appears to be based on the opinions of two people neither of whom are recognized experts in their field. They are known for advocacy, but are not academics or specialists.
  • There is no transparency - they say it is PD but give no information as to a rational, nor a reason for being in the PD.

However since it is a non-profit and supported by some other non-profits I'm willing to accept the source, for now, since they have no monetary motivation (link ads etc) - but eventually the missing data will need to be provided for it to be considered reliable. -- Green Cardamom (talk) 20:34, 5 August 2013 (UTC)

They seem to periodically remove movies from their site (for example, The Last Man on Earth). I'm guessing that means that their PD assessments are not always correct. Kaldari (talk) 08:06, 21 February 2014 (UTC)

Death Rides a Horse

It seems likely that Death Rides a Horse had its copyright restored by the URAA, as it is exactly the type of work that the URAA was intended to cover (foreign works that were published without proper U.S. copyright formalities). The movie was published in 1967 and I don't see any reason its copyright would have expired in Italy prior to 1996 (the URAA effective date). The only source that says it is public domain is a book that was originally published in 1987, at which time, it probably was public domain in the United States. Unfortunately, the book does not say where the movie was public domain, but since the book was published in U.S., I'm assuming they're referring to U.S. copyright status. Kaldari (talk) 07:50, 21 February 2014 (UTC)

I've removed this movie from the list. Kaldari (talk) 08:06, 21 February 2014 (UTC)

Star Trek

Several of the original Star Trek episodes were not registered properly for copyright protection and are in the public domain. I don't recall which ones, but I've watched one of them that someone had a legal copy of. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.226.230.107 (talk) 09:17, 27 December 2014 (UTC)

I think we should limit to films not TV which is a lot more extensive, or start a separate list for TV if there are reliable secondary sources. -- GreenC 11:54, 27 December 2014 (UTC)

The Last Man on Earth

How did a film released in 1964 become public domain in the 1980s? I know the source says this, but I can't understand how that would be possible. 1963 was the last publication year in which renewal was required. Kaldari (talk) 08:03, 21 February 2014 (UTC)

A work still had to be registered in the first place. If the authors didn't comply with the law then they would not be awarded copyright, and this was the case up until 1989. Betty Logan (talk) 13:32, 27 December 2014 (UTC)