Domain Registration

Any movie or book published from 1923 to 1963 goes into public domain 28 years after the date of publication. Originally it could only be renewed for 47 years. It has been increased to a renewal of 67 years. (Source: Lolly Gasaway, University of North Carolina. http://www.unc.edu/~unclng/public-d.htm). This mean that many of these works are now public property and can be reprinted and rebroadcast by anyone, without the permission of the original author and no royalty payments.

Classics such as The Little Rascals, Charlie Chaplin, Roy Rogers, The Contender and many more are free for the taking. Finding your favorite movie online is going to take just a little digging. You are going to find three types of sites. The first site is selling stock footage. The second type of site will either charge you a flat monthly fee or charge you to view the movie. The third site will allow you to view your favorite movie for free.

It may sound wrong that you have to pay for movies in the public domain. Because a movie has fallen into public domain, doesn’t mean you can’t still sell it. You can do what ever you want with it. You can sell it, reedit it, add voice over to it and you can even copyright your finished product. If you plan on mass producing a public domain movie for commercial purposes you should go to a stock footage company. They will sell you a copy of the movie that will produce the highest quality movie after it has been mass produced. They sell the movie by the foot. That is just the way Hollywood sell bulk footage and bulk film.

The subscription sites are just there for people who are too lazy to go to the free sites and download or view the movie themselves. Sites that sell subscriptions or download fees are perfectly legal and they get the movies from the exact same sites that this article will cover. In defense of those charging a fee, it cost money to run a website and if you are just looking for one hard to find title, you may do well to pay $9.95 to download a good copy of it. Make sure you can download the movie if you are paying a fee. Why are you paying just to watch it once? I’m going to show you how to do that for free.

Any movie or book published from 1923 to 1963 goes into public domain 28 years after the date of publication. Originally it could only be renewed for 47 years. It has been increased to a renewal of 67 years. (Source: Lolly Gasaway, University of North Carolina. http://www.unc.edu/~unclng/public-d.htm). This mean that many of these works are now public property and can be reprinted and rebroadcast by anyone, without the permission of the original author and no royalty payments.

Classics such as The Little Rascals, Charlie Chaplin, Roy Rogers, The Contender and many more are free for the taking. Finding your favorite movie online is going to take just a little digging. You are going to find three types of sites. The first site is selling stock footage. The second type of site will either charge you a flat monthly fee or charge you to view the movie. The third site will allow you to view your favorite movie for free.

It may sound wrong that you have to pay for movies in the public domain. Because a movie has fallen into public domain, doesn’t mean you can’t still sell it. You can do what ever you want with it. You can sell it, reedit it, add voice over to it and you can even copyright your finished product. If you plan on mass producing a public domain movie for commercial purposes you should go to a stock footage company. They will sell you a copy of the movie that will produce the highest quality movie after it has been mass produced. They sell the movie by the foot. That is just the way Hollywood sell bulk footage and bulk film.

The subscription sites are just there for people who are too lazy to go to the free sites and download or view the movie themselves. Sites that sell subscriptions or download fees are perfectly legal and they get the movies from the exact same sites that this article will cover. In defense of those charging a fee, it cost money to run a website and if you are just looking for one hard to find title, you may do well to pay $9.95 to download a good copy of it. Make sure you can download the movie if you are paying a fee. Why are you paying just to watch it once? I’m going to show you how to do that for free.