[Billy_bob_bob]

There was a series of books published that listed all of the movies that were considered to be public domain. The books were expensive, something like $500 per decade, but the information was invaluable for someone who might be interested in releasing obscure movies on video.

Now, thanks to the lobbying efforts of Disney and others, those books are not worth the paper they are printed on. For all intents and purposes EVERYTHING is now copyrighted FOREVER. Nothing will ever fall into the public domain ever again for eternity. This is what our country and our laws have become, a playground for corporate and vested interests.

See "Carolina Cannonball" or "Valley of the Eagles" lately? No? Don't worry, you never will. There are literally thousands and thousands of great old movies that you will never, ever see, thanks to our shiny new copyright laws. Doesn't matter if it is sixty years old and everyone involved in the making of it is dead, that movie is still fully copyrighted, and if you dare to make a copy and sell it the corporate copyright holders will sue you for everything you own.

I was looking into getting into the business of making DVD's out of old public domain movies and then selling them for a few bucks, but with the new laws (thanks Disney!) I've given up on that idea. Lawyers and corporations get everything, everybody else gets nothing. That's what America is all about, right?

[Vetnet]

I was looking into getting into the business of making DVD's out of old public domain movies and then selling them for a few bucks, but with the new laws (thanks Disney!) I've given up on that idea. Lawyers and corporations get everything, everybody else gets nothing. That's what America is all about, right?

Unfortunately, even if you get as far as post production on a project, your problems are just getting started when you try to find an honest distributor. (One that actually pays you for your project)It's the same for the film or music industry

(I wonder if they'll ever have meaningful congressional hearings that cover that subject)(/Sarcasm Off)