Public Domain
A Fool There Was
1915 · Fox Film Corp. · Dir. Frank Powell
John Schuyler, a happily married lawyer, is appointed diplomat and sent to England. Due to an unfortunate accident, his wife and child can not come along with him. On the ship to England, Schuyler meets the notorious Vampire - a relentless gold digger who causes the moral degradation of those she seduces, first fascinating and then draining the very life from her victims.
Confidence
100
— Legal Reasoning —
Why this status applies
The film 'A Fool There Was,' starring Theda Bara and directed by Frank Powell, was released in January 1915. Under current US copyright law (17 USC §304), any work published before January 1, 1928, has reached the end of its statutory copyright term and is definitively in the public domain.
At the time of its release, the film was governed by the 1909 Copyright Act, which provided for an initial 28-year term and a 28-year renewal. Even if the film had been renewed (a search of the CCE and Stanford Renewal Database is moot for this era), the maximum possible protection period for 1915 works expired no later than 1990 (1915 + 75 years under the 1976 Act). The 1998 Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act further extended the term for works published between 1923 and 1977, but it did not revive copyrights that had already expired, such as those from 1915.
— Cited Sources —
Supporting facts
Research summary based on cited sources, not legal advice. Always consult a qualified copyright attorney before commercial use.