Public Domain
The Patchwork Girl of Oz
1914 · The Oz Film Manufacturing Company · Dir. J. Farrell MacDonald
Ojo and Unc Nunkie are out of food, so they decide to journey to the Emerald City where they will never starve. Along the way, they meet Mewel, a waif and stray (mule) who leads them to Dr. Pipt, who has been stirring the powder of life for nine years. Ojo adds plenty of brains to Margolotte's Patchwork servant before she is brought to life with the powder. When Scraps does come to life, she accidentally knocks the liquid of petrifaction upon Unc Nunkie, Margolotte, and Danx (daughter Jesseva's boyfriend). So all go on separate journeys to find the ingredients to the antidote.
Confidence
100
— Legal Reasoning —
Why this status applies
The film 'The Patchwork Girl of Oz' was released in the United States on September 28, 1914. Under current United States copyright law (17 U.S.C. § 304), all works published or registered for copyright before January 1, 1928, have entered the public domain. This applies regardless of whether the copyright was renewed or not, as the maximum possible term for works of this era was 95 years from the date of publication, all of which have since expired.
The film was produced by L. Frank Baum's Oz Film Manufacturing Company and was originally registered for copyright under the number LP3493 on September 28, 1914. Because the publication date falls well before the 1928 threshold, the work became public domain no later than 2010. It is widely available for free viewing and download via the Internet Archive and other public domain repositories, and it is frequently included in public domain silent film collections.
— Cited Sources —
Supporting facts
- https://archive.org/details/ThePatchworkGirlOfOz
- https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-film-preservation-board/documents/public_domain_film_listing.pdf
- AFI Catalog of Feature Films: The Patchwork Girl of Oz (1914)
- Hurst / D. Richard Baer, 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.