Talk:List of films in the public domain in the United States/2019

A Boy and His Dog

User:Hitcher vs. Candyman added the film A Boy and His Dog [1].

Based on this nearly 10 year-old discussion [2], which itself is primarily based on this Archive.org post which provides film history and copyright registration information (Registration Number / Date: PA0000452605 / 1990-03-01), and pinging User:Jerzy. I believe there is enough tangential evidence that Wikipedia should not directly assert this film is in the public domain. Nor should it assert the film is not in the public domain. The IndieWire source provided by Hitcher vs. Candyman says "This one is in the public domain" (the link to archive.org is part of the source) -- this is not a reliable assertion just because a film is on archive.org doesn't make it public domain and given the complexities of this case they didn't do any research beyond seeing a copy at the Archive. -- GreenC 14:03, 4 May 2019 (UTC)

From what I have read I believe the original film is PD but I agree we need more concrete evidence to add it to the list. Wikipedia needs to deal in verifiable fact, not the law of averages, especially when we are disseminating information that can have legal consequences. Betty Logan (talk) 00:18, 5 May 2019 (UTC)

Works of the United States Government

Our article states:

All films that were released before 1924, or are the work of the United States Government, are now in the public domain in the United States. They are not listed here in order to keep this list to a manageable size.

This is reasonable. Yet we list 14 films labeled "Work of the United States Government". Other than contradicting the list criteria, is this a good idea? They are notable (blue link) films setting them apart from the 100s of thousands of other Government films. One option is to cat them, such as Category:Films by the United States Government. -- GreenC 14:01, 6 May 2019 (UTC)

I think they should be removed. We either list these films or we do not. At the moment we don't according to our criteria. Betty Logan (talk) 20:52, 6 May 2019 (UTC)

Done and US Gov category created in Category:American films so they can still be in a group. -- GreenC 03:09, 7 May 2019 (UTC)

Poor sources

Resolved

User:‎Hitcher vs. Candyman, you have been adding many movies that are not well sourced. They are web journalism pieces that reporting that a film can be purchased/downloaded somewhere as "PD". But as well all know, many outlets will sell/upload films as being PD that are not actually PD. The existence of a "PD" version isn't evidence of anything. I don't believe we as Wikipedia should be asserting Public Domain status unless there is a good quality source - books, papers, academics, etc... For example a piece from Wired magazine listing the top 10 films for download from Internet Archive is not a reliable source for PD status. -- GreenC 04:37, 27 May 2019 (UTC)

@GreenC: All I can say in my defense is that I used those sources in good faith. Hitcher vs. Candyman (talk) 04:43, 27 May 2019 (UTC)

Of course I never thought differently we are all trying to do what we think is best. Ok I removed 6 based on the quality of sourcing. Have no problem restoring if some additional better sources can be found. -- GreenC 04:48, 27 May 2019 (UTC)

I understand and completely accept your reasoning for removing those films from the list. Thank you for your contribution, User:GreenC. Hitcher vs. Candyman (talk) 04:58, 27 May 2019 (UTC)