Public Domain
The Evidence of the Film
1913 · Thanhouser Film Corporation · Dir. Edwin Thanhouser
A messenger boy is wrongfully accused of stealing bonds worth $20,000. Luckily, a film crew is shooting a moving picture on the same street. The boy's accuser has the police convinced, until...
Confidence
100
— Legal Reasoning —
Why this status applies
The film 'The Evidence of the Film' was released on January 10, 1913, by the Thanhouser Film Corporation. This date is well within the 1928 cutoff for works published in the United States. Under current US copyright law, all works published before January 1, 1928, have seen their copyright terms expire and have entered the public domain regardless of renewal status or notice.
As a pre-1928 production, the film is definitively in the public domain in the United States. It is widely available in film archives and is preserved by the Library of Congress as part of the National Film Registry (added in 2001), where it is recognized as a significant early example of film-within-a-film narrative.
— Cited Sources —
Supporting facts
- https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-film-preservation-board/film-registry/complete-national-film-registry-listing/
- http://www.thanhouser.org/films/evidence_of_the_film.htm
- AFI Catalog of Feature Films: The First 100 Years 1893-1993
Research summary based on cited sources, not legal advice. Always consult a qualified copyright attorney before commercial use.