|
|
 |
|
Poster:
|
DrakkenZero |
Date:
|
June 29, 2007 12:49:35am |
|
Forum:
|
feature_films
|
Subject:
|
"My Man Godfrey" Public Domain standing question |
Since a) you seem to be the definitive source on this outside a copyright lawyer, and b) it's available for download here, I thought I'd ask for your help.
I have a friend, a descendant of the author Eric Hatch, who has claimed for years that the 1936 version of this movie (
http://www.archive.org/details/my_man_godfrey) is still under copyright to her family and should not be public domain. This subject has recently come back up (again), and I'd like to get a definitive answer once and for all on this topic.
I can tell you what I do know about the issue. She’s not a nut making wild claims – she is most definitely related to the creators of this movie, and even has some ancient memorabilia regarding it. Her family is even receiving royalties for the novel/movie's usage in several other forms, such as the new musical/stage play/whatever it is that is coming out soon.
I know the genie's long out of its bottle on this, and even if it would prove that it is not Public Domain, there'd be no way to undo the free distribution of this movie now that it’s as widely available as it has been made…
I've looked all over to attempt to find something to validate her claim (or refute, if only so she'll stop bugging me), but on films from this era there appears to be no golden rule as to what remains under copyright and what does not. Most websites seem to justify distributing it as public domain because "it's public domain", citing any number of other sites which claim it to be public domain as proof of their claim. This is a nice bit of circular logic which is wholeheartedly unhelpful in my research.
So I guess my real question is… on gray area movies like this… who officially says that a film is Public Domain? And what recourse, if any, might copyright holders take if something that they owned started appearing on the internet listed as Public Domain? What’s to stop someone from simply claiming something is in the public domain and using it as they will?
|
Poster:
|
jonc |
Date:
|
June 29, 2007 05:00:01pm |
|
Forum:
|
feature_films
|
Subject:
|
Re: 'My Man Godfrey' Public Domain standing question |
There is no online bible as to what is or is not public domain. The US Copyright Office has a searchable database for items registered since 1978; "My Man Godfrey" (1936) is not listed there, but that does not necessarily mean it is PD. There's a listing of PD films on Wikipedia, and My Man Godfrey is listed there. However, this list is not 100% accurate. To find out definitively, you would have to contact the Copyright Office in Washington.
http://www.copyright.gov/
|
Poster:
|
ari dubov |
Date:
|
July 02, 2007 07:16:29pm |
|
Forum:
|
feature_films
|
Subject:
|
Re: 'My Man Godfrey' Public Domain standing question |
copyrights are very tricky
|
Poster:
|
ari dubov |
Date:
|
July 02, 2007 07:17:48pm |
|
Forum:
|
feature_films
|
Subject:
|
Re: 'My Man Godfrey' Public Domain standing question |
copyrights are very tricky
|
Poster:
|
jessiejay |
Date:
|
September 15, 2010 02:38:23pm |
|
Forum:
|
feature_films
|
Subject:
|
Re: 'My Man Godfrey' Public Domain standing question |
A good way to get the answer for this case for sure is to pay for lawyers to perform a copyright check. I believe you can request this per title for around $400. If the family already receives royalties for the movie/novel then I'm pretty sure they will be willing to spend such a small amount to find out about the actual movie. After all they will make there money back in royalties 1000 fold if the lawyers discover they still own the rights.
There is also a copy of the movie in question showing at
www.imovietube.comThey always seem to be pretty reliable when it comes to movies that are in the public domain but I guess that can't be taken as gospel just because they have it on the site also.
I hope that helped.
|
Poster:
|
Tom Barrister |
Date:
|
December 24, 2012 08:33:28pm |
|
Forum:
|
feature_films
|
Subject:
|
Re: 'My Man Godfrey' Public Domain standing question |
(I'm not an attorney)
The original creative content (i.e. screen play) can still be under copyright, while the rights to the movie (once held by Universal) can lapse into public domain. Universal was notorious for not only failing to extend copyrights on many of their movies, but also letting negatives fall into disarray. Therefore, My Man Godfrey not only lapsed into public domain, there were no good copies of it for many years.
Then the movie was restored and a colorization was also made. Since the prints that they were made from are public domain, the restoration and colorized versions can be copyrighted, but the rights only extend to those versions. The copyright holder of the restoration/colorization has no rights to the movie itself, the public domain prints, or the creative content (screen play); those belong to their respective owners or remain in public domain, as the case may be. Also, while the public has the right to freely use and distribute public domain works, they don't have the right to use or distribute the modified works if such are copyrighted.
To make things more complicated, the Supreme Court ruled om Jamuary of this year that Congress can pass legislation to take works out of public domain. So far that hasn't happened.
The point is that it's possible for the movie to be in public domain, while the screen play isn't. So if somebody wanted to produce a Broadway play based on the movie, and the screen play was still under copyright, they'd have to get permission from the owner.
TVNews
OpenLibrary