Discussion:
What is the name of your state? New York.
Hello,
First, thanks for taking the time to read this.
Here is the problem: If a movie is factually known to be in the public domain (1963), and I wanted to duplicate its original poster, shrink it down in size so it can be used as a DVD case cover, and if I duplicated any photographs taken from that movie such as lobby cards or stills, am I infringing in some way?
This is definitely for profit by the way. Memorabilia or poster stores sell these items for profit so I figured I could as well. But, I want to be very sure before I do anything I'll regret.
Thank you so much for any advice you can offer.What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state?
Answer:
Here is the problem: If a movie is factually known to be in the public domain (1963), A movie made in 1963 is not likely to be in the public domain, or are you saying the copryright expired in 63?
and I wanted to duplicate its original poster, shrink it down in size so it can be used as a DVD case cover, and if I duplicated any photographs taken from that movie such as lobby cards or stills, am I infringing in some way? These are works in their own right.
Answer:
A movie made in 1963 is not likely to be in the public domain, or are you saying the copryright expired in 63? Yes. The copyright expired after 1963 from what I know, based on distributors of the master tapes who give a certificate stating this.
These are works in their own right. I don't understand what this means. Are you saying I can't have these items professionally duplicated for resale because whoever created the artwork or took the photographs now owns the rights to them, which would be MGM?
Thanks.
Answer:
Y
I don't understand what this means. Are you saying I can't have these items professionally duplicated for resale because whoever created the artwork or took the photographs now owns the rights to them, which would be MGM?
Thanks. It means that while the fact that the movie passed into the public domain in 1963 is a good hint that these might also be in the public domain, you need to verify that. What was the release date of the movie?
Answer:
The movie was released in 1963 but went into the p.d. after that. I don't recall the year. Sorry for the confusion.
Answer:
What leads you to believe that the movie is in the public domain? Especially if the movie was first released in 1963, it seems very unlikely that it is in the public domain, absent a very special set of circumstances. Was it first released in 1963 in the U.S.?
The poster is a separately-copyrightable piece. The fact that the movie may be in the public domain in no way means that the poster is in the public domain. It might, but again, if the poster were first published in 1963, it would be very unlikely that it moved into the public domain. It could happen, just doesn't seem very likely.
Answer:
What leads you to believe that the movie is in the public domain? Especially if the movie was first released in 1963, it seems very unlikely that it is in the public domain, absent a very special set of circumstances. Was it first released in 1963 in the U.S.? This movie has been released so many times by various low-budget DVD studios you can now by it for under fifty cents brand new. If these studios had to pay for the licensing fees on said movie, there would be no way they could charge under a dollar for it when you also have to factor in studio time to transfer a master tape of the movie to DVD, add menus, duplication of a thousand or more units. No one would do it. Also, the video quality is usually less than stellar where it concerns this movie which means they went the cheap way out.
Tape distributors also give a certified document stating the that the movie is public domain based on their database search.
Some people in the industry have also told me the same thing. Even IMDB lists the movie as belonging in the public domain.
The poster is a separately-copyrightable piece. The fact that the movie may be in the public domain in no way means that the poster is in the public domain. It might, but again, if the poster were first published in 1963, it would be very unlikely that it moved into the public domain. It could happen, just doesn't seem very likely. So, how do I find out if it's in the public domain or not as well as any stills released for the movie including lobby cards?
Answer:
So, how do I find out if it's in the public domain or not as well as any stills released for the movie including lobby cards? You could check to see if the copyright was ever registered. If the lobby cards, poster, etc., if any of those things have copyright notices printed on them, like the circle-c and a date, then they are almost certainly NOT public domain.
Unfortunately, there isn't a database or anything you can check to find out if something is public domain or not.