This seems like the kind of movie that would be in the public domain (Nosferatu from only 4 years earlier seems to be), so I thought I could find it online. Apparently it was online at archive.org and Google Video, but was taken down from both. Anyone know what's going on?
Anything made before 1929 in the world is in the public domain in the US. It's not been taken down for valid copyright reasons (assuming the file had been hosted in the US). I can't speak for other countries, but most Western countries are similar (but not exactly the same).
shareDont quote me on it, but I'm not entirely sure thats how it works. A work of art (or the more popular naming Intellectual property) isnt Public Domain anywhere unless it is in the country where it originated. So even if a piece was made prior to -29 its not automatically PD in the states. It has to be in the original country aswell.
Otherwise copyright laws would be rather harmless if a country decides that works are PD after only 5 years. All things from the rest of the world would be freely accessable in that country then no matter where it originated.
Just how I have come to understand the rules about this.
More on topic though. It can be that the version being uploaded to the sites you mention are copyrighted for any reasons. Just because the original work is PD doesnt mean that any copies of it are. If a company decides to alter it somehow they will have copyright on their version (cant remember what film it is now, but one film regarded as lost that would have been PD was found and was waterstamped by the finder, making his version copyrighted and therefore all existing copies, which he owned, was copyrighted). If they added their own musical score, edited the movie somehow or altered it in any way shape or form, they have the copyright to it.
share
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