Eyes on the Prize would probably be one of the most elaborate and expensive to clear the copyrights, though to be fair, those were just because the clip rights had expired so it really wasn't a copyright issue. Absolutely.
And yes, the court case over IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (more specifically, the original story that was actually a Christmas card of a few paragraphs and the song Buffalo Gal) had the most far-reaching effects on copyright since that victory for Abend vs. MCA had the most far-reaching affects -- in certain cases, underlying copyrights could be enforced even if the film was public domain. The Royal Wedding is an interesting case where the film was public domain but the widow of Fred Astaire sued a vacuum company and the advertising firm for the use of it in a commercial (suggesting that he endorsed the product) and she won. Abel Gance's NAPOLEON has had a substantial number of lawsuits starting with the woman who bought the rights from MGM decades ago and sued Universal and all over the 1980s release. There's been more in France and here over the years on that film. We had the music rights clearances for KILLER OF SHEEP that included 22 songs and 32 right permissions to the happy little tune of $150,000. That took five years to clear. We also had a cease and desist from the Cuban government and ICAIC the weekend before I AM CUBA opened in 1995 but not only does Cuba have no right to sue in the United States, but we had licensed the rights from their co-production partner (Mosfilm) so they worked it out amongst themselves. There's a lot of films that had to clear the rights to Martin Luther King's I HAD A DREAM speech after the fact because of a later legal decision granting the rights to the speech to Dr. King's estate. (There was just a story on NPR this past weekend on the legal ramifications of that decision.) Perhaps the shortest film that had copyright problems (though probably trademark) would be the Pillsbury Dough Boy parody from the 1960s where he gets trapped in the hot oven. If Bambi and Godzilla got in trouble (and I think the filmmakers did) then that would be a close race on shortest film. Then there's the wonderful SUPERSTAR: THE KAREN CARPENTER STORY by Todd Haynes that was sent separate Cease and Desists by Richard Carpenter, A&M Records *and* Mattel. For other kinds of legal trouble, there's a number of documentaries that were sued by the subjects. Can I name one? Sorry, not at the moment. I'm sure there were a few that were on Nixon that got the filmmakers on the Enemies list. The Swiftboat film GOING DOWN RIVER, a real hatchet job on John Kerry, was sued for using clips from WINTERSOLDIER that sadly was settled out of court. I'm sure Mark Rappaport had legal problems over his films and the use of clip rights. Interestingly enough, LOS ANGELES PLAYS ITSELF hasn't -- partly because studio bigwigs love the film. And these days, fair use is more commonplace. -- Best regards, Dennis Doros Milestone Film & Video/Milliarium Zero PO Box 128 / Harrington Park, NJ 07640 Phone: 201-767-3117 / Fax: 201-767-3035 / Email: [email protected] Visit our main website! www.milestonefilms.com Visit our new websites! www.shirleyclarkefilms.com, www.comebackafrica.com www.ontheboweryfilm.com <http://www.killerofsheep.com/> Support "Milestone Film" on Facebook<http://www.facebook.com/pages/Milestone-Film/22348485426> and Twitter <https://twitter.com/#!/MilestoneFilms>! See the website: Association of Moving Image Archivists<http://www.amianet.org/> and like them on Facebook<http://www.facebook.com/pages/Association-of-Moving-Image-Archivists/86854559717> AMIA 2013 Conference, Richmond, Virginia, November 5-9!<http://www.amianet.org/> On Wed, Jan 23, 2013 at 1:21 PM, Reichert, Allen <[email protected]>wrote: > Hi all, > > I don't think this has one clear answer, but I had a student ask what > movies has faced the most copyright issues? My initial thought is *Eyes > on the Prize*. Would any of you have others that have faced more, or > perhaps more difficult issues? And, outside of documentaries, what about > feature films? > > Thanks, as always, > Allen Reichert > Electronic Access Librarian > Otterbein University > > 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. > >
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.
