This is a question which I've never recieved a definate answer to:

If I would want to have a character watching a public domain film on a television in one of my films, would there be any legal problems? I know the film itself has no copyright, but would there be a problem with me just using the footage directly from a cheap public domain DVD release? Would I have to pay the company that released the DVD?

For example, if I had a character watching Manos: The Hands Of Fate from the DVD that Alpha Video released, would I have to pay royalties to Alpha Video?

Or if they were watching Carnival of Souls from the Diamond Entertainment double feature with Horror Hotel, would Diamond Entertainment be able to sue me for not getting their permission, even though the film itself is not copyrighted?

~justin
http://www.showchoir.com/~justinc79
http://www.iwcfilms.tk
http://www.minicinema.tk

Hi Justin,
This should be legal. You couldn't re-sell the dvd that it came on, but if you transfered it into a different media (like in your movie), you should be fine. -that is unless it has a 'bug' on the video from the distributer.