actually Tom I think how they got IAWL back under copyright was to be
involved with their congressmen
copyright law has been revised by congress a number of times since
1978 as companies attempted to get control of items that had actually
fallen into the PD. Disney being one of them. Steamboat Willie was PD
for years, but congressional revision allowed them to recapture it.
It is really an immoral episode of congressional attitude
One great example of this is that about 5 years ago there was a case
that made it's way to the Supreme Court
There was a case involving a lower tier publisher who had been
issuing editions of an author's books that had fallen into the PD,
but when the author became super-popular, the original publisher
filed suit claiming ownership. In between there was the final law
revision in 1992 that extended the length of the renewal period and
also allowed for revisiting material that had lapsed due to the
failure of the original copyright holder to reclaim some material via renewal.
Then they extended the renewal period to 75 years total (including
original filings) so while it once was 28+28 years on renewal - and
renewal needed to be filed according to old law to be eligible to
access the 75 year timeframe. So even thought the original 56 years
had lapsed a number of years earlier, the court sided with the
corporate giants and put the material back into the original
publisher's hands. The subsequent ruling put the small publisher into
receivership and out of business due to royalties now due on a whole
slew of books they had published that were at the time PD, but now recaptured.
Frankenstein & Dracula also benefited from this as under the 56 year
rule, their copyrights expired in 1987. Whether those two films are
now PD is debatable as 75 years means they should have expired last
year and I think that is why Universal re-released a new dvd series
last year to maybe capitalize one final time on those films
what was most interesting was that one argument that publisher used
was the the author -who was now wildly popular in reprint - was never
published by anyone else until the small publisher came in, and
therefore the rational that all publishers issue Shakespeare, Mark
Twain, Conan Doyle and a slew of other now PD authors did not apply
to this one author who had only been represented by that single
company previously
myself, I think it's incredible that Congress could be so abstract &
that the Supreme Court was also abstract. I should mention that when
the case came to trial, that the Bush administration filed a "friend
of the court" brief in support of the corporations - which I'm sure
is no surprise to anyone
unfortunately I no longer have the info on the case, so I can't point
you to it. But I can tell you it was being watched by the news media
and all small publishers, including myself
Rich=====================
At 03:21 PM 3/26/2007, you wrote:
Hi Rich:
Yes, I think the loop hole in "It's A Wonderful Life" had to do with
music issues. This some way is how they got this title's it's copyright back.
Earle Hagen's score or title song for the "Andy Griffith Show" is
indeed under copyright so the off brand dvd's have alternate music
because of the Hagen estate and clearance issues.
I remember a TV "Laugh In" reunion show year's back and they had to
alter the video by blanking out some of the people in the background
shots. They apparently could NOT get clearance from these people or
families of these people.
Best, Tom Pennock
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