What is public domain?
Anything which legally has no owner is said to be in the public domain. Once there was even public domain land, but now public domain is pretty much limited to intellectual property where copyright protection has expired or the creator has formally given his work to the public. There is no “official” list of public domain property because something becomes public domain due to the absence of any law giving anyone claim to ownership. In effect, if no one on this entire planet can find any law which gives them legal claim to a property, then that property is in the public domain.
Many of the old movie are in public domain. Note that most of the newer videos are probably not in public domain. “When a work’s copyright or patent restrictions expire, it enters the public domain and may be used by anyone for any purpose.” read more on wikipedia From Archive.org: “If the work was made in 1923 or earlier, it is probably public domain and can be uploaded. NOTE! Restored versions of the film or new soundtracks for silent films can have more recent copyrights that are still valid – usually a copyright notice for a new soundtrack or restoration will appear in the film. For works made from 1923 to 1949, post a question to the movie forum on this site [at archive.org] before you upload. The copyright could have been renewed and there isn’t a way online to check a film’s copyright status. For works made from 1950 to 1963, you can check the title at the Library of Congress Copyright Database for copyright renewals: http://www.copyright.gov/records/cohm.html . This will list c
In Canada, a song enters the public domain 50 years after the death of the last surviving composer of the song. Permission to use, arrange, adapt and record a song in its original form is not required once it becomes part of the public domain. While 50 years remains the standard, the United States and some European countries have extended the length of copyright to 70 years after the death of the last surviving composer. Any new arrangement or adaptation of the work may give rise to a separate copyright.
Copyrighted works are protected for a finite amount of time. For most works, this is the life of the author plus seventy years. When that time has passed, the work “enters the public domain,” which means it can be freely copied, adapted, distributed, etc. Copyright protection no longer applies to the work at that point.
