Is there an online database to find out who owns the rights to a particular movie, one that’s not available in the market so I can’t just read the back of the DVD? If not, can any suggest to me how to go about tracking down the rights holder of a particular film?
Also, is there a way to confirm that a movie distributed by one of those public-domain/dollar-DVD houses is, in fact, in the public domain?
Wikipedia link on copyright term duration.. Anything before 1923, you’re OK. After that, before 1964 if not renewed. I’ve not been able to find a database of renewals. Generally, if the studio has existed since 1923, they have renewed all their titles.
Well, there are lots of exceptions; Night of the Living Dead is in the public domain, frinstance.
And many of the titles I’m wondering about are relatively obscure, and not necessarily attached to a studio.
So, is there a lawyer onboard who can confirm or deny my suspicion that, to be sure about any particular title, I’d have to pay a lawyer to do a search on each one, individually? I hope that’s not the case, but frankly it wouldn’t surprise me.
That’s because there was no copyright notice on the film, which was one of the ways you could lose your copyright before 1976 (the other way being forgetting or choosing not to renew it after 28 years).
The Library of Congress is searchable on most copyrights from the 1970s on and some records before that. For copyright info not in their databases they will quote you an hourly fee for the search; I’ve no idea how much time is usually spent on a search but I’m sure you can ask them for an estimate.
http://cocatalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?DB=local&PAGE=First
Just the basic catalog to the LOC may, if the film is housed at the library, have the name of the copyright holder. http://catalog.loc.gov/
Thanks, Sampiro, that’s a help. Only, is it to be the assumption that if I *don’t *find the title listed, then it *is *in the public domain?
On a related note, say (hypothetically) you were a film producer who wanted to make a movie version of a certain book. Where would you look if you wanted to find out if some other studio or producer already had film rights to that book? Is there some sort of database out there that could tell you?
You’d just have to ask the author (or his agent). If he’s dead, then you’d have to track down his estate.
In a word, no. (For one thing, the copyright holder may not be American.)
You might want to give the Copyright Renewal Database a shot. It’s far from complete, but you never know.
Hmm. The first titles I checked were movies released by the dollar-disc, public-domain distributors. I hate to take it for granted that they dotted all their eyes, but maybe for those titles I have no other choice.
Otherwise, it looks like I’ll have to pay a copyright attorney for a search? Dang.
I’d be concerned that the first party I tracked down might not give me the whole story in a case in which the rights are in dispute. It’s not unheard of for two or more companies to claim ownership of the same intellectual property.
Just talking about U.S. copyright here, not international.
• Released before 1923: All are in the public domain.
• Released 1923-1950: See Film Superlist: Motion Pictures in the U.S. Public Domain. Created by Walter E. Hurst; updated edition by D. Richard Baer. Hollywood, Calif.: Hollywood Film Archive, 1992-1994. (Three volumes to date, covering 50,000 films from the years 1894-1939, 1940-49, and 1950-59.)
• Released 1951-1963: Online database of all U.S. copyright registrations and renewals since 1978.*
• Released 1964-February 1989: All works released with a proper copyright notice affixed are still under copyright.
• Released March 1989-present: All works released are still under copyright.
And don’t forget that even when a motion picture has entered the public domain, it may be a derivative work from a book, play, story, etc., that is still under copyright. Example: the second movie in full color, Dancing Pirate (1936) is in the public domain, but it is based on a 1930 novella still under copyright.
It contains only book renewals, no films.
Let me add:
• Released 1964-February 1989: All works released with a proper copyright notice affixed are still under copyright, whether or not the copyright was registered with the U.S. Copyright Office.