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Public domain trailers

post #1 of 5
6/11/09 at 1:15am
Thread Starter 
If a trailer is public domain, is the footage within that trailer public domain and free to be repurposed?
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post #2 of 5
6/11/09 at 1:19am
Repurposed how?

Quote:
Trailers for movies released before 1964 are in the Public Domain because they were never separately copyrighted. The law at the time granted the owner 28 years to file a copyright registration.

1963 + 28 = 1991

Clearly, time has run out to register this material. Some might argue that since the trailers frequently contain the same material that's in the movie, and the movie is presumably copyrighted, that this would cover the trailer as well. However, the trailer is published (run in a theater) before the movie itself is published. Thus, the trailer requires a separate copyright, and the scenes contained in the trailer are in Public Domain.

Note that all trailers, regardless of year, until the late 80's, are O.K. to use if they contain no copyright notice. This does occur, although infrequently. For example, the trailer for "The Shootist" (John Wayne, 1976) contains no notice. It is therefore O.K. to use.
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post #3 of 5
6/11/09 at 2:18pm
Thread Starter 
Coolio! Thanks. I've got plans to edit together a short using public domain footage, stock, etc. And came across some public domain trailers that met some needs.
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post #4 of 5
6/11/09 at 2:31pm
Well, hang on. I don't know that repurposing individual shots from the film to your own ends, just because they are also in the trailer, is protected. I think the shots in the trailer are public domain as long as they are presented IN the trailer. I probably shouldn't drunk-highlight things anymore.

I'm also not a lawyer, so who the hell knows.
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post #5 of 5
6/11/09 at 5:14pm
Thread Starter 
Hmmm. more research for me then. I'll stick to using what I know is public domain for now.
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