The Public Domain consists of works which are owned by no one and available to all. The term “Public Domain” comes from Roman origins and the idea that some things in this world, like sunshine and air are commonly accessible to everyone. Once a work of art enters the public domain it belongs to no one, and therefore belongs to everyone. Everyone is free to enjoy the work without restriction and may build upon it in any way they choose.
In this world there are innovators and creative minds and we honour those by respecting their effort and awarding them copyrights and intellectual property rights to protect their work. It is right and good that entrepreneurs and artists are allowed to profit from their labour during their lifetime, but it is also right and good that ideas are not monopolised and return to the public in a timeframe that benefits society. We believe in a world where ideas are shared for the benefit of all and the internet is used to enrich the lives of everyone. This website serves to provide access to all non-copyrighted movies, in high-definition, for free, to anyone anywhere. Our hope is that people use this website for what it is, a source of enjoyment and enrichment for the lives of all mankind.
Over the next 12 months expect the catalogue of movies available to you to grow into the hundreds. We will not ask you to sign up. We will not ask you to pay. We will simply provide everyone with what they are legally entitled to watch. Our hope is that these iconic works will provide enjoyment for many and hopefully inspire a new generation of artists to follow after creative geniuses like Walt Disney and Akira Kurosawa. We do not seek to circumvent copyright protection and we do not provide illegal downloads, we merely see that incredible works of art which no one owns and therefore, no one promotes are sliding into the past without touching the lives of every generation. We encourage everyone to watch “The Great Dictator”, “Seven Samurai” and “Gone with the Wind” and connect with our history through film.
We realise copyright law can be confusing. Since each country determines its own copyright duration, when you visit publicdomain.co.nz, we use your IP address and do our best to block movies which are still under copyright in your country. This protects both the copyright holder and you, the user, from potential copyright infringement. We will never use your IP address for anything other than attempting to ensure you are abiding by the copyright law in your country. We endeavour to apply national copyright laws appropriately and we give the benefit of doubt to the copyright holder. Please view our terms of use before watching any material on this website. If you are a copyright holder and would like us to block content in your region, please contact us.
We would like to dedicate this website to Aaron Schwartz. May we all work together to continue his legacy of not enriching ourselves but, making the Internet and the world a fairer, better place.
- The Public Domain
USA/Mexico IP detected
Dear Guest,
Your IP addressed is located within the United States or Mexico. Due to the copyright legislation in these countries (95 and 100 years respectively), publicdomain.co.nz will not be able to provide any movies which you are legally able to view. We encourage you to petition your government for sensible copyright laws which enrich the lives of consumers while still providing benefit to the original content creators.
- The Public Domain
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