Would the showing of films made before +-1950 in a public venue (in this case a retirement home or Church) be legal in New Zealand ? There appears to be at least some films from that era in the US public domain, but I was wondering about the NZ status. Thanking you for any advice. Cheers
Need some advice on any aspect of digitisation or digital content creation? Ask your questions in this forum... or jump in with your own answers to other peoples questions.
Comments
Digital New Zealand’s Public Domain Guide (http://makeit.digitalnz.org/guidelines/enabling-use-reuse/public-domain-guide/) states that all films and sound recordings completed, made, or made available to the public, more than 50 years ago (which is before 1 January 1961) are out of copyright in New Zealand.
On this basis, provided that you are showing a film reel from that era or a copy of a film reel from that era that you have made directly, there are unlikely to be any limitations.
There could however be a difficulty if you were showing a copy that someone else has made. If they have made enhancements to the images or soundtrack, converted and formatted the film to e.g. digital chapters on a DVD, or made other changes, then they may have a copyright claim for adding originality. That could require a copyright licence from them to show the film in public.