I have a 3 disk DVD collection of the old Victory at Sea television show. I've found many references online stating that these shows are public domain, but the DVD set have a copyright notice and the FBI Warning at the beginning.
What part of these DVD's would be copyrighted, and what part public domain? Would I be allowed to copy only the TV shows off the DVD's and give to someone?
2007-07-23 04:32:00 · 3 answers · asked by Mutt 7 in Politics & Government ➔ Law & Ethics
The only way to get an accurate determination is to track the rights back to the holder. And using "online references" or wiki sources for this kind of stuff is indicative of suicidal tendencies.
Contact the company that put out the DVD, and ask. The answer is almost certainly that no, you can not use the copyrighted work in that fashion.
2007-07-24 09:54:29 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The DVD is copyright, and any derivative product (such as your copies) would be included in that. These shows, like nearly all primetime television shows, were produced on motion picture film which was copyrighted by the production studio (not the tv network) prior to airing on TV. There may be some instances of people who taped a "live" pre-1984 show off television that the originating station failed to copyright which could be public domain. However you will see that most live shows including newscasts have copyright claim conspicuosly displayed in the credit roll, and many sporting events even have a voice announcement. all programs after 1984 are automatically protected even if the claim is not displayed.
What the internet sources could be refering to is that film footage shot by the United States Government is public domain. However a lot of shots used in the series was also taken from newsreel films and other non-government sources, how are you to know the difference? Also the audio track is 100 percent copyright as the government war films were shot silent, the "barking guns" and airplane sounds were added later at the studio.
If all you want are the PD war shots, you can get your own, they are cataloged by the military and are available for a modest charge. Each branch has their own archive. The Military Channel has a library of shots that can be licensed for reasonable charge as well.
2007-07-24 21:28:28 · answer #2 · answered by lare 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The specific format of the DVD -- the layout of the menus, the title sequence, etc. -- these can all be copyrighted even if the underlying content is public domain.
Also, in the US, under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, bypassing the DVD encryption to copy the underlying content is illegal -- even if the underlying content is not copyrighted itself.
2007-07-23 11:35:21 · answer #3 · answered by coragryph 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋