[pdb-discuss] Mmmmovies

Thu Oct 5 11:31:55 UTC 2006

Quoting Rufus Pollock <rufus.pollock at okfn.org>:

> My understanding is that films get the full life+70 treatment (as 
> works for hire in the US they may get slightly less, i.e. 95 years).

In the US, works that didn't have copyright notices attached prior to 197(8?)
are public domain. So films without notices are PD there. But films made after
that date are all (c) by default.

> [Longer UK film copyright] was a result of the duration directive of 1995.

Oh I didn't realise that. :-( I need a good book on UK copyright, most of my
sources are either from the early 90s and/or specific to fine art.

> To guard against the consequences of the director's early death [god 
> forbid: we'll only get a 70 or 80 years not 120], the longest life 
> among "persons connected with the film" is taken; and these include 
> not only the principal director but the author of the screenplay, the 
> author of the dialogue and the composer of any specifically created 
> film score. [10-45]
>
> They go on to point out the dramatic effect this has on, say, a 
> documentary shot in the 1930s which would have gone out of copyright 
> in the 1980s but now may not do so until 2050.

That's terrible. Films are work for hire and always display a corporate
copyright at the end.

> Thus other than very special cases -- see e.g. BFI contributions to 
> the Creative Archive

Why would BFI contributions be different? Do they hold the copyright?

This would explain how the BFI can claim copyright to licence under the CA
licence though.

> or special government material such as that from DfT

How about crown copyright material? Would public service announcements 
qualify?
And would this affect BFI materials if they had been originally made by the
government?

> -- most film is likely to be in copyright for quite a while yet.

This makes copyleft cinema all the more important for the UK.

- Rob.