What is 'SCMS'? Tyra Grant
Digital and electronic media preservation officer University of Kansas Libraries tgr...@ku.edu<mailto:tgr...@ku.edu> Phone: 785-864-8951 From: videolib-boun...@lists.berkeley.edu [mailto:videolib-boun...@lists.berkeley.edu] On Behalf Of Jessica Rosner Sent: Tuesday, August 23, 2011 11:27 AM To: videolib@lists.berkeley.edu Subject: [Videolib] Bootleg copies, GATT , Copyright, PD and other fun subjects I imagine most of you know the situation with Public Domain, Copyright laws etc, but the discussion of L'Inhumaine brought up a few things. Films without any copyright protection are in the Public Domain, they can be copied, transferred, shown to an audience without any clearance. Films end up in the Public Domain either because they were never registered for copyright ( NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD), they did not properly renew the copyright ( SUDDENLY) or the copyright expired ( FOUR HORSEMAN OF THE APOCALYPSE (silent version). Of course things are never that simple. There are many films that were PD, but no longer are, a small number are cases where a previously PD film is protected by another element of the film ( story, music) thus IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE is now under copyright. The FAR bigger number of previously PD films that are now under copyright are tens of thousands of films made outside the US which became covered in 1994 when the US signed the GATT treaty. I don't want to go over all the details but pretty much all those European films from the 20s through the 60s that had never been copyright protected in the US ( Bergman, Renoir, DeSica ) now are. There are many thousands of VHS copies of these films out there, some produced before GATT went into effect, many produced after. The result of GATT has been that many great films are now available in stunning versions that no distributor would have invested in had the film been PD, though it also has meant many more obscure titles that were around in VHS days are probably not coming out here any time soon. The term of copyright is now 95 years but the date does not start till 1922. Any film made in or before 1922 is PD in the US, no matter where it was made with the exception explained below of specific copies. There is one more fun bit to the above which is a "special contents" copyright. This means a particular VERSION of an otherwise PD film is under copyright because of unique elements added by the distributor. This is almost always silent films adding new music so that Kino, Milestone, Flicker Alley etc. copies of PD silent films are in fact under copyright. In one rather brazen case, a company got a copy of a government made film which are by law PD, but added titles to two lines of foreign dialogue, copyrighted it and sold it. I did a few searches on OCLC of titles I knew had never been legally been legally released anywhere in the world. Not surprisingly I found a number of libraries that owned obvious bootlegs. The number was not huge but it was there. The companies listed were frankly obvious pirate sellers. It is hard for me to believe that a library would think that a film made by a Hollywood studio is available nowhere else than Bob's Rare Hollywood Classics ( Yes I made that up) OR a company in Taiwan.I mention this because both SCMS and some proponents of what I will "free access" are very loose on the responsibility of an institution to recognize an illegal copy. I know most everyone here is careful, but that is not always the case in the academic world and claiming "gee I had no idea the copy of WINGS I bought from China on eBay wasn't legal " is not in my mind remotely plausible. OK back to real work. Anyone want to buy legal streaming rights on some films (must put some stuff on videonews)? -- Jessica Rosner Media Consultant 224-545-3897<tel:224-545-3897> (cell) 212-627-1785<tel:212-627-1785> (land line) jessicapros...@gmail.com<mailto:jessicapros...@gmail.com>
VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of issues relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic control, preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in libraries and related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as an effective working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of communication between libraries,educational institutions, and video producers and distributors.
