Public Domain
Spanking Breezes
1926 · Mack Sennett Comedies · Dir. Edward F. Cline
A young married couple are desperate to escape a houseful of annoying relatives who have overstayed their welcome indefinitely. The couple believes they have found the perfect getaway when a friend invites them to spend a belated honeymoon aboard a yacht. However, upon reaching the boat, they are dismayed to discover that their troublesome relatives have already arrived and preceded them on the voyage.
Confidence
100
— Legal Reasoning —
Why this status applies
Under the current US copyright law (the 1998 Copyright Term Extension Act), all works published or registered in the United States before January 1, 1929, have entered the public domain. 'Spanking Breezes' was a two-reel silent comedy produced by Mack Sennett and released on October 31, 1926, by Pathe Exchange.
Because the film was released in 1926, its maximum 95-year term of copyright protection expired on December 31, 2021. As of January 1, 2022, the film is legally in the public domain in the United States regardless of whether the copyright was originally renewed in its 28th year. No further search for renewal records (such as in the CCE or Stanford database) is necessary for works from this era as their statutory protection period has concluded.
Note: generated without live web grounding (the grounded research engine was unavailable). Verify the cited sources independently before relying on this determination.
— Cited Sources —
Supporting facts
- AFI Catalog of Feature Films: Spanking Breezes (1926)
- Internet Movie Database (IMDb): Spanking Breezes (1926)
- 17 U.S.C. § 304 (Duration of Copyright)
- Library of Congress Catalog of Copyright Entries (CCE) Motion Pictures 1912-1939
Research summary based on cited sources, not legal advice. Always consult a qualified copyright attorney before commercial use.