How can I get a complete of silent films no longer protected by copyright laws?

Answer 1

Anyone can make a copyright claim on any film, but the only test of validity is in court. So, there are lots of films that are arguably "in the public domain" but could eventually prove not to be; and even if one copyright claim is denied in court, another may be respected. So a "complete list" is not possible.

If someone is selling or distributing a film as 'public domain' and does not get challenged in court for an extended length of time, then any copyright holder that may exist could be ruled to have abandoned the copyright. You'd need a copyright lawyer to explain the finer points of this.

Answer 2

Anything prior to 1925 would be out of rights in the USA. Talkies did not become prevalent before 1929, so some silents can be in rights. Many films after 1924 and before 1963 have allowed rights to lapse do to non-renewal. Once a film was no longer shown in theaters, the big studio bean counters were too cheap to pay the fees. Congress decided it was unfair to make big studios pay fees, so the renewal is no longer required. Some of the underlying works (screenplay, music, choreography etc) may have a copyright separate from the film still in force, but that does not affect the use of the film,. just prevents the script or score from being plagurized.

PD material on a "protected" CD or DVD is still public domain. Producers usually add their own copyrighted content such as a music track or colorization to discourage legal copying of the PD material. Keep the film silent and b/w and you should be ok. Anything generated from the original film is a derivative product and does not have any claim to rights on its own.

As to getting a list, well not even the copyright office can do that. Each case can only be determined by court action, there is no "official" declaration of public domain status otherwise.

As a former television producer, i can tell you that an unbelievable number of people think they own rights to films. You will need to be represented by a good legal team to fend off the inevitalbe stream of frivilous claims.

Answer 3

That's a good question. I searched and could not find one. Another problem is, DVD's that contain material that has fallen into the public domain are still copy protected and circumvention of the copy protection is precluded by the Digital Millenium Copyright Act. I wonder how that will be resolved.

Answer 4

complete? idk.

google for 'public domain movies'

gets you started....there's a ton of stuff out there.