Free online movies and documentaries are now available in different websites, from the old to the new movies as well as documentaries. There are many sites that embed media from other sites such as You Tube and Google Video. This means that the sites offering free online movies and documentaries do not host the audio and visual contents that they have and therefore have no control over the copyright issues pertaining to these materials.



With regard to copyright, the host site is presumed to have the full knowledge which movies or documentaries are public domain. Therefore, any question related to copyright should be directed to these host sites. Copyright owners must contact the source for materials that need to be removed from the internet completely because of some legal constraints.

Many movies could be public domain, especially old ones. Once a work's copyright or patent restrictions expire, it enters pubic domain. There are, however, some works with restored versions so their copyrights are still valid. You have to find out if this is so because they would appear in the film.

Works made from 1923 to 1949 could have been renewed so it needs to be checked before uploading. For those made from 1950 to 1963, the Library of Congress Database has records of copyright renewals. The site is http://www[dot]copyright[dot]gov/records/cohm[dot]html Works made earlier than 1923 are almost all public domain.

There are three conditions for a video to fall under public domain. First, if the term of copyright for the video has expired. Second, when the author failed to meet formalities set forth by the state to perfect the copyright. Third, when the video is made by the U.S. Government.

Free online movies and documentaries downloads can be done in varied ways. Some sites make use of the Google video button. Just click on the button, then choose go to Google Video, and then click "download". The second way is to use the Firefox Ad-on. The Third way is to go to Keepvid.com or Video Downloader and follow some simple instructions. Be sure that you download only those contents that are public domain.

Some of the resource sites that house free online movies and documentaries materials in public domain are the following:

Archive.org has a collection of numerous videos. Full-length movies, news broadcasts, and all sorts of videos that are uploaded by users.

Publicdomaintorrents.com. At this site you can have free downloads of a wide choice of movies in public domain using BitTorrent technology. These can be downloaded to mobile devices such as PDA, iPod.

There is also The Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA). This is a non-profit professional group put up to put forward the field of moving image archiving. This it does by having linkages among different organizations and individuals who are concerned with the acquisition, preservation, exhibition and use of moving image materials.

Footage.net is a leading footage resource since 1994. It has the best stock footage sources be it news, creative, archival, and RF. Materials that are downloaded from the sites can be checked if these are in public domain. Some sites that can help you verify the free online movies and documentaries public domain status are: Archive[dot]org, OpenFix[dot]com, Creativecommons[dot]org, Spinxpress[dot]com., and the Public-Domain Movie Database.