Public Domain
The Heart of Dorean
1921 · Cary-State Rights Pictures · Dir. Robert N. Bradbury
Doreon, a French-Canadian trapper, is in love with Babette, but she favors bad-boy Blake, who has skipped town to avoid arrest. Doreon vows to find Blake and bring him back. King, a corporal in the Mounties, aids Babette in returning Doreon to her.
Confidence
100
— Legal Reasoning —
Why this status applies
The Heart of Dorean is a silent Western film released in 1921, directed by Robert North Bradbury and starring Tom Santschi. The film was registered for copyright by Cary-State Rights Pictures on August 20, 1921, under registration number LP16870.
Under the Copyright Act of 1909, works published before January 1, 1928, have entered the public domain in the United States regardless of whether their copyright was ever renewed. Because this film was published and copyrighted in 1921, its maximum statutory protection of 95 years has expired. As of January 1, 1997, all works published in 1921 entered the public domain in the U.S. per the 75-year rule then in effect, which was later extended to 95 years by the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, but that extension only applied to works still under copyright in 1998.
— Cited Sources —
Supporting facts
- Library of Congress Catalog of Copyright Entries: Motion Pictures 1912-1939
- The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States: Feature Films, 1921-1930
- Internet Movie Database (IMDb)
Research summary based on cited sources, not legal advice. Always consult a qualified copyright attorney before commercial use.