Public Domain
College Chums
1907 · Edison Manufacturing Company · Dir. Edwin S. Porter
While in a park, a young woman sees her fiancé being quite affectionate with another woman. When she calls him on the telephone to demand an explanation, he tells her that it was his sister. She is not satisfied, and insists on coming over to meet his 'sister'. As the young man broods over how to get out of trouble, an old college friend comes over, and he offers to pretend to be the sister. At first this works, but soon it has created even more complications.
Confidence
100
— Legal Reasoning —
Why this status applies
College Chums is a short silent film directed by Edwin S. Porter for the Edison Manufacturing Company. The film was registered for copyright by the Edison Manufacturing Company on November 21, 1907 (Registration Number H103009). The film is notable for its early use of animation and split-screen techniques.
According to US copyright law, all works published before January 1, 1929, have entered the public domain regardless of renewal status or whether a copyright was originally filed. As a 1907 production, the copyright on this film expired at the latest on December 31, 1982 (75 years after publication under the 1976 Act), and it definitively entered the public domain by January 1, 2024, following the implementation of the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act.
The film is currently held in various archives including the Library of Congress and is widely available on public domain repositories such as the Internet Archive and via scholarly film history collections without restriction.
— Cited Sources —
Supporting facts
- Library of Congress Catalog of Copyright Entries: Motion Pictures 1894–1912
- AFI Catalog of Feature Films (Early Shorts)
- Internet Archive (Public Domain Collection)
- Niver, Kemp R., 'Early Motion Pictures: The Library of Congress Paper Print Collection 1894-1912'
Research summary based on cited sources, not legal advice. Always consult a qualified copyright attorney before commercial use.