Protected
Westfront 1918
1930 · Nero-Film AG · Dir. G.W. Pabst
A group of German infantrymen of the First World War live out their lives in the trenches of France. They find brief entertainment and relief in a village behind the lines, but primarily terror fills their lives as the attacks on and from the French army ebb and flow. One of the men, Karl, goes home on leave only to discover the degradation forced on his family by wartime poverty. He returns to the lines in time to face an enormous attack by French tanks.
Confidence
85
— Legal Reasoning —
Why this status applies
Westfront 1918 is a German production directed by G.W. Pabst. Under the 1909 Copyright Act, foreign films required a US copyright notice and registration to secure protection in the United States. No record of a contemporary US copyright registration or renewal was found in the Stanford Copyright Renewal Database or the Catalog of Copyright Entries for this title, which typically would have placed it in the US public domain for failure to comply with formalities.
However, the film's US copyright status was restored under the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (URAA), effective January 1, 1996 (17 USC § 104A). Since the film was still under copyright protection in its source country (Germany) on the restoration date and had fallen into the US public domain due to non-compliance with formalities (lack of renewal/notice), it qualified for automatic restoration. The film is currently managed by the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung and has been subject to high-profile restorations and commercial distribution (e.g., The Criterion Collection), confirming its active protected status.
— Cited Sources —
Supporting facts
- Stanford Copyright Renewal Database
- U.S. Copyright Office Records (URAA/GATT Restoration provisions)
- Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung archive records
- The Criterion Collection: Westfront 1918 (Edition #904)
Research summary based on cited sources, not legal advice. Always consult a qualified copyright attorney before commercial use.