Public domain question

Now, I have a DVD box set of public domain horror films that I would like to present as a Horror Host on my campus television station. The campus TV guys are a bit uneasy about this, because the DVD releases mean they must have been licensed to those who released the box set (apparently) and this could cause problems with the broadcast rights.

Is this an actual problem?

Maybe you'd be less disappointed if you stopped expecting things to be Carmen Sandiego movies.

If I remember correctly, in the United States there's actually a law saying that it's illegal to break a DVD's copy protection, even if the content you're copying off it isn't under copyright. Though under that law, if anyone got in any sort of trouble, it would probably only be you liable and not the tv channel.

Now, there's nothing stopping people from a doing a DVD release of something in the public domain, so the DVD producer didn't necessarily buy licensing rights to the footage. However, I don't know how that would hold up if they did film restoration, re-formatting, or any other sorts of alterations.

edited 31st Aug '12 8:41:44 PM by RavenWilder

Nothing on the box implies anything of the kind.

The DVD set is "50 Horror Classics" and yet half the films inside have been on MST 3 K. Assuming it's anything other than a quick cash grab is generous at best.

Maybe you'd be less disappointed if you stopped expecting things to be Carmen Sandiego movies.

Not even the "formatted to fit your screen" sort of thing?

P.S. There's also a possible issue in that sometimes a movie will fall into the public domain, but will contain licensed music or other material derived from another source that has not. For example, the movie Its A Wonderful Life is in the public domain, but it was based on a short story which is still under copyright, so to exhibit that movie you'd still need permission from the copyright holder of the original story. And even then IAWL contains several pieces of music which are also still under copyright by the movie studio.

Basically, this is the sort of thing where you'd need to do a bit of research on each movie first.

edited 31st Aug '12 9:07:16 PM by RavenWilder

No formatted to fit your screen, no. Hell, the discs are DVD-Rs, I think they just uploaded four movies to a disc in whatever order would fit (not even the order on the box!) and sent it to press (or whatever the home video equivalent is.)

Maybe you'd be less disappointed if you stopped expecting things to be Carmen Sandiego movies.

Why would you have to break copy protection for this usage?

Home of CBR Rumbles-in-Exile: rumbles.fr.yuku.com

Oh, yeah, and no copy protection, either. Whoever put this set together just didn't care—fitting, seeing Attack Of The The Eye Creatures is the first one listed.

Maybe you'd be less disappointed if you stopped expecting things to be Carmen Sandiego movies.

Even then, I'm not seeing why, to do such a show, you wouldn't be able to just stick it in a DVD drive. Am I missing something?

Home of CBR Rumbles-in-Exile: rumbles.fr.yuku.com

The people at the station seem to think that by using the DVD versions I'd be infringing on the licensing agreement of the releasers of the DVD set.

Maybe you'd be less disappointed if you stopped expecting things to be Carmen Sandiego movies.

But if the movies are in the public domain, then there's no one to license the movies from.

Do the dvds have that Interpol warning in front of them?

Not Three Laws compliant.

I really think you should probably check with a lawyer rather than asking a bunch of people on the internet.

Not an expert, but here's my best guess on this whole thing. As a classical musician, I do a lot of work with stuff that's technically not copyrighted. Most of what I play was written in the 17-19th centuries and are in the public domain. However, the sheetmusic I use to play them is NOT in the public domain and is still under copyright. That is to say, the works I play are in the public domain, but the editions they are presented in are not, even if there have been no changes made to the music or notations.*

Now the movies you want to play are in the public domain, but the DVD they come on - the edition - is not. And if that company so chose (that is, if they could prove it was their edition) they could sue you for copyright infringement.*

This is only my interpretation of copyright law, however this is how it works in the music business. Corr Terak's correct in that a lawyer could give you a more exact answer.

I'm working on it.