Public Domain
Fatty and Minnie-He-Haw
1914 · Keystone Studios (distributed by Mutual Film Corp.) · Dir. Roscoe Arbuckle
Fatty steals a ride on a train, discovered, and put off in the middle of nowhere. He stumbles along over the hot desert and finally passes out. A very plump Indian woman finds him and takes him to her tepee, woos him and finally, in desperation, Fatty agrees to marry her. While the tribe is preparing for the marriage ceremony, Fatty attempts to escape but is caught.
Confidence
100
— Legal Reasoning —
Why this status applies
This short film starring Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle and Minnie Devereaux was released on December 17, 1914. Under current US copyright law (17 USC § 304), all works published or registered before January 1, 1928, have entered the public domain regardless of whether their copyright was ever renewed.
Because the film was released in 1914, its maximum possible copyright term (including extensions under the 1976 Act and the 1998 Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act) expired no later than the end of 1989 (75 years) or, under modern calculations, would have expired at the end of 2009. However, the blanket rule of law mandates that any work from 1914 is public domain as of January 1, 2024. This applies to both the visual elements and the underlying scenario for a Keystone production of this era.
— Cited Sources —
Supporting facts
- AFI Catalog of Feature Films (and shorts history)
- IMDb: Fatty and Minnie-He-Haw (1914)
- U.S. Copyright Office - Circular 15a (Duration of Copyright)
- Hurst, Film Superlist: Motion Pictures in the U.S. Public Domain 1894-1939
Research summary based on cited sources, not legal advice. Always consult a qualified copyright attorney before commercial use.