[pdb-discuss] Mmmmovies

Wed Oct 4 22:34:32 UTC 2006

I've been looking at public domain films on archive.org and 
publicdomaintorrents.com. Wired have just published their list of the 
best public domain movies to download. And the thing that has struck me 
is that despite our 50 year expiry for film copyright there are 
virtually no British films in the archives.

Is this because movie archive sites tend to be American, or does the 
music score copyright affect matters if the score wasn't work for hire 
or something? There are a few British movies in archive.org, but there 
are many classics that are older than 50 years that are conspicuous by 
their absence.

So what are the legal issues around this, and if they are not major 
should we start looking for copies of The Red Shoes and Passport To 
Pimlico to upload? :-)

- Rob.