DVD Legitimacy

I found an article that pertains to this, which says:

For cinematography the minimum is 50 years after first showing, or 50 years after creation if it hasn't been shown within 50 years after the creation. Countries under the older revisions of the treaty may choose to provide their own protection terms, and certain types of works (such as phonorecords and motion pictures) may be provided shorter terms.

Although the Berne Convention states that the copyright law of the country where copyright is claimed shall be applied, article 7.8 states that "unless the legislation of that country otherwise provides, the term shall not exceed the term fixed in the country of origin of the work", i.e. an author is normally not entitled a longer copyright abroad than at home, even if the laws abroad give a longer term. This is commonly known as "the rule of the shorter term". Not all countries have accepted this rule.

The Berne Convention authorizes countries to allow "fair" uses of copyrighted works in other publications or broadcasts.[1] The Agreed Statement of the parties to the WIPO Copyright Treaty of 1996 states that: “It is understood that the mere provision of physical facilities for enabling or making a communication does not in itself amount to communication within the meaning of this Treaty or the Berne Convention.”[2] This language may mean that Internet service providers are not liable for the infringing communications of their users.[2]

Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

If I'm reading that correctly, it would mean that anything released in the US in 1960 or before, if not aired after that date, is no longer protected under US copyright law.

Manay Pepin said:

Anyone can claim a set of legal rights and threaten enforcement of those rights. That alone does not make infringement of those rights actionable.

The content of this posting and the opinion expressed herein is the sole property of Pepin. No other use is allowed and under no circumstances shall this opinion be viewed on any monitor smaller than 24 inches or at a resolution higher than 800*600.

I found it interesting that in the article I linked in my last post, that it said that while registration of a copyright is not mandatory in the US, that statutory damages and attorney fees were not recoverable unless it was. This seemed to apply to both material created in the US or outside of it.

All of the original episodes of Death Valley Days were created between 1952-1970 (they showed reruns until 1975). If my 1960 cutoff date is valid, that would mean that the first 9 years is public domain, while the last 10 years is not. Obviously, the people creating this set didn't pay too much attention to the Berne Act, in deciding whether they could do so or not. But, if the copyright owners don't stop them, or release their own DVDs, I guess that they don't care.