Public Domain
The Mender of Nets
1912 · Biograph Company · Dir. D.W. Griffith
A young woman who works mending fishermen's nets is engaged to be married. But her fiancé has an old love who refuses to let him go. Further, his former girlfriend has a brother who is willing to use violence to protect his sister's honor.
Confidence
100
— Legal Reasoning —
Why this status applies
The Mender of Nets is a short drama directed by D.W. Griffith and starring Mary Pickford. It was released by the Biograph Company on February 15, 1912. The film was originally registered for copyright by the Biograph Company on February 17, 1912, under registration number LP50.
Under the U.S. Copyright Act, all works published or registered before January 1, 1928, have entered the public domain regardless of whether they were renewed. As a 1912 production, the copyright for this film expired 75 years after its publication under the 1976 Act, and it definitively entered the public domain in the United States no later than 1987. It is now widely available in public domain archives and collections of Griffith's early work.
— Cited Sources —
Supporting facts
- Library of Congress CCE (Motion Pictures 1912-1939)
- IMDb: The Mender of Nets (1912)
- AFI Catalog of Feature Films (Shorts Index)
- 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.