Public Domain
Home, Sweet Home
1914 · Reliance Motion Picture Corp. · Dir. D.W. Griffith
John Howard Payne leaves home and begins a career in the theater. Despite encouragement from his mother and his sweetheart, Payne begins to lead a life of dissolute habits, and this soon leads to ruin and misery. In deep despair, he thinks of better days, and writes a song that later provides inspiration to several others in their own times of need.
Confidence
100
— Legal Reasoning —
Why this status applies
The film 'Home, Sweet Home', directed by D.W. Griffith and released in May 1914, is definitively in the public domain in the United States. Under current US copyright law, all works published or registered before January 1, 1928, have seen their statutory copyright terms expire.
At the time of its release, the maximum duration of copyright protection was 56 years (an initial 28-year term plus a 28-year renewal). Even if the copyright had been properly registered and renewed, it would have expired no later than 1970. Because it was produced and published prior to the 1928 cutoff, it has aged out of protection regardless of renewal status or subsequent legislation like the 1998 Copyright Term Extension Act.
— Cited Sources —
Supporting facts
- AFI Catalog of Feature Films: Home, Sweet Home (1914)
- U.S. Copyright Office, Compendium of U.S. Copyright Office Practices
- Library of Congress, Motion Picture Copyright Descriptions Collection, 1912-1959
- Hurst, Richard Maurice. Film Superlist: Motion Pictures in the U.S. Public Domain
Research summary based on cited sources, not legal advice. Always consult a qualified copyright attorney before commercial use.