In a message dated 8/16/2006 1:16:28 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, bjreece@bellsouth.net writes: If one purchases a dvd with old movies on it is it acceptable to show them to a group....even if no funds are taken for the movie? ARe we violating copyrights? Isn't this acceptable if the films are in the public domain, as many old movies now are? There are several "collections" of old movies on DVD that are sold for very little because the copyright has expired; a lot of old film noir and horror movies are sold in multi-movie packages like this, as well as some of Laurel & Hardy's movies. I recently saw a documentary about "midnight movies" that explained the reason Night of the Living Dead caught on as a midnight show was because someone neglected to renew the copyright--so anyone could exhibit the film. This site provides a list of movies currently "thought to be" in the public domain: http://www.openflix.com/ Wouldn't showing one of these be okay, particularly for free?

"'If one purchases a dvd with old movies on it is it acceptable to show them to a group....even if no funds are taken for the movie? Are we violating copyrights?'" "Isn't this acceptable if the films are in the public domain, as many old movies now are?" I was out of town until just a little while ago so did not have a chance to respond to this question until now. public domain - a term referring to the status of a work that has no copyright protection. It literally means that the work belongs to everyone and is available for unrestricted access to anyone who wants to use it. Neither permission nor source citation is required for its use, though failure to cite the source could be considered as plagiarism. http://www.pddoc.com/copyright/glossary.htm If the copyright lapsed on the movie, no permission is needed from anyone. It is now in the public domain, and now belongs to everyone. Mike Goad http://www.pddoc.com/copyright/map.htm