Is there a good resource for confirming that a television series in in the public domain? Specifically I’m trying to confirm that the 1954 Flash Gordon TV series (a West German/French/US co-production) is truly public domain. Lots of sites say it is but I’d like something official.
King Features Syndicate owns the copyrights and trademarks associated with the comic strip. I would expect that they would have first claim on any loose TV rights.
On examining my DVDs, I find that the only copyright mentioned is “package design”. Perhaps it is in public domain.
My DVDs are from Alpha Home Entertainment. Their address is
Alpha Video Distributors, Inc.
Box 101
Narberth, PA 19072
www(dot)oldies(dot)com
If the country of first publication was the U.S.A., the answer would be fairly easy to find: for works first published before 1964, the first term of a copyright lasted 28 years, after which the copyright had to be renewed. Flash Gordon debuted on U.S. television in 1954, so the copyright on the first episodes would have to be renewed in 1982. All U.S. copyright registrations and renewals since 1978 are listed in the U.S. Copyright Office’s online database.
However, this television series was produced in Europe. And the copyright on the first episode’s title card says 1953 (MCMLIII), which suggests that it was released in Europe or the U.K. before the U.S. In which case the copyright law of the country of first publication must be followed — the U.S. is a signatory to international copyright conventions that include France, Germany, and the U.K.
You could have the Library of Congress do a records search; unfortunately this costs $150 per hour, but conceivably that might be worth it to you.
The Library of Congress will search only the records of the U.S. Copyright Office, which in this case would already be online and free. It cannot search the foreign copyright status of works, although by international copyright conventions the infringement of a foreign copyright is actionable in U.S. courts.
That’s not quite correct. The Copyright Office does have some manual (physical) files that are not accessible online. This is why they recommend that researchers visit in person if they don’t want to pay the search fee.
The OP lives in the USA, so I thought it was a reasonable assumption that he’d be interested in the domestic copyright status.
To confirm a reference for my re-write of the Wikipedia article? No way. I’ll poke around a bit more and see if I can turn up anything indicating it was broadcast internationally before 1954.
The U.S. Copyright Office does have some copyright records that are not online, but they are either pre-1978 or just filed and not yet online. Because the renewal of the U.S. copyrights on this 1950s television series would have occurred in the 1980s (if they occurred at all), the records* would be online.
As I said twice above, because the U.S.A is a signatory to international copyright conventions, a foreign copyright usually does determine the work’s domestic copyright status in the U.S.A.
- I am referring to the basic records of title, author, claimant, registration date, renewal date, renewal number. I am aware that for every registration or renewal there is a larger file of paperwork.
Take a look at the copyright online database: Search Records | U.S. Copyright Office. A quick looks indicates almost 700 Flash Gordon title listed.
Television series are registered for copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office under the episode titles, because each episode has a separate copyright. For example, The one where Chandler can’t cry / (Friends). I already checked several of the Flash Gordon episode titles and found no renewals.