# Who has the rights? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 18, 2008, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-rights/453372 "2008-06-18T18:13:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-rights/453372/1 "2008-06-18T18:13:22Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-rights/453372/2 "2008-06-18T18:25:19Z")
[Wikipedia link on copyright term duration.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright#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. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-rights/453372/3 "2008-06-18T19:46:24Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-rights/453372/4 "2008-06-18T20:44:45Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-rights/453372/5 "2008-06-18T20:50:40Z")
[QUOTE=lissener] Well, there are lots of exceptions; Night of the Living Dead is in the public domain, frinstance. [/QUOTE] 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). ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-rights/453372/6 "2008-06-18T21:43:31Z")
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. > **[Search Records | U.S. Copyright Office](https://www.copyright.gov/records/)** > > Search Records Information [http://cocatalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?DB=local&PAGE=First](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/](http://catalog.loc.gov/) ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-rights/453372/7 "2008-06-18T22:14:08Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-rights/453372/8 "2008-06-18T22:55:42Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2008, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-rights/453372/9 "2008-06-19T00:45:57Z")
[QUOTE=NDP] 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? [/QUOTE] You’d just have to ask the author (or his agent). If he’s dead, then you’d have to track down his estate. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2008, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-rights/453372/10 "2008-06-19T01:16:31Z")
[QUOTE=lissener] 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? [/QUOTE] In a word, no. (For one thing, the copyright holder may not be American.) ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2008, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-rights/453372/11 "2008-06-19T02:23:16Z")
You might want to give the [Copyright Renewal Database](http://collections.stanford.edu/copyrightrenewals/bin/page?forward=home) a shot. It’s far from complete, but you never know. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2008, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-rights/453372/12 "2008-06-20T23:37:58Z")
[QUOTE=Sampiro] In a word, no. (For one thing, the copyright holder may not be American.) [/QUOTE] 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. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2008, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-rights/453372/13 "2008-06-21T00:27:08Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] You’d just have to ask the author (or his agent). If he’s dead, then you’d have to track down his estate. [/QUOTE] 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. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2008, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-rights/453372/14 "2008-06-21T08:07:14Z")
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](http://www.copyright.gov/records/) 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. - I have not included 1950 here because the copyright on a film released in 1950 could be renewed in 1977 (not in database) or 1978 (in database). ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2008, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-rights/453372/15 "2008-06-21T08:18:33Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] You might want to give the [Copyright Renewal Database](http://collections.stanford.edu/copyrightrenewals/bin/page?forward=home) a shot. It’s far from complete, but you never know. [/QUOTE] It contains only book renewals, no films. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2008, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-the-rights/453372/16 "2008-06-21T08:21:24Z")
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_.