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Poster: jonc Date: Aug 22, 2011 9:24am
Forum: movies Subject: Re: Copyrighted Movies?

I'm sure some are by mistake, and some people don't understand "public domain" or the policy of the Archive. In some cases it might help to make the license specification mandatory, with link to the FAQ.

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Poster: jory2 Date: Aug 22, 2011 6:03pm
Forum: movies Subject: Re: Copyrighted Movies?

I'm very confused by the Archives policy's.
"Some of the content available through the Archive may be governed by local, national, and/or international laws and regulations, and your use of such content is solely at your own risk."
If the Archive doesn't have the legal rights to host the content, why is the content here?

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Poster: jonc Date: Aug 22, 2011 6:31pm
Forum: movies Subject: Re: Copyrighted Movies?

I can't speak for the Archive, but it sounds like a disclaimer as laws vary between countries and even states. Content here might be PD in the US, but might still be under copyright elsewhere. It's up to the user to be aware of these laws.

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Poster: jory2 Date: Aug 22, 2011 7:07pm
Forum: movies Subject: Re: Copyrighted Movies?

I think you have that wrong?
If a copyright protected work was created in the US, the copyright is protected globally, every country that is signatory to the Berne Convention is obligated to respect each others copyrights.
Copyrights don't differ state-to-state either.
If a Work is in PD that applies everywhere, not just in the country the Work was created in.
So if it's in PD in the US, it's in the public domain everywhere else.

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Poster: jonc Date: Aug 22, 2011 8:14pm
Forum: movies Subject: Re: Copyrighted Movies?

It isn't necessarily the case and not all countries are under the Berne Convention. One notable exception is the movie Metropolis. This was PD in its country of origin, and most other countries, but under Uruguayan law it was under copyright, and by the GATT treaty, the US and Germany honored this copyright. Sound recordings published before 1972 are subject to state common law.

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Poster: jory2 Date: Aug 23, 2011 5:22pm
Forum: movies Subject: Re: Copyrighted Movies?

I was thinking of Metropolis when I was typing the post, funny you should bring that up.
We had a study group on the status of copyright and then to public domain, but even that film still has a rightful copyright owner.
I do agree with you in that anyone going to any website, especially a large website like the Internet Archive, should take a proactive approach getting familiar with laws and copyrights. Not so easy, there's a lot of 'em!