Mark Zimmer
Senior HTF Member
- Joined
- Jun 30, 1997
- Messages
- 4,318
I think that the issue of restorations being given independent copyright protection is still very much an open question. I don't know of any cases that have considered it one way or another. Obviously, the Library of Congress will let you register it, because they just take your word for it that you've done something creative (the Four Horseman example). It's not like the Patent & Trademark Office where someone actually looks at the filing and considers whether there's something that is entitled to protection beyond mere compliance with the formalities. Copyright registration is little more than a rubber stamp.
New music scores, obviously, are entitled to protection, as are new intertitles. But making something look the way it did back in 1921? Hm, not quite so sure on that one. I can see that case easily going either way. While there's undeniable effort going into it, I suspect a judge might have difficulty finding a creative element in such a restoration. And as Jack Theakston points out, if you've got an original print of a pre-1923 US film, you can do what you want with it and duplicate it to your heart's content, even if someone has copyrighted a restoration.
New music scores, obviously, are entitled to protection, as are new intertitles. But making something look the way it did back in 1921? Hm, not quite so sure on that one. I can see that case easily going either way. While there's undeniable effort going into it, I suspect a judge might have difficulty finding a creative element in such a restoration. And as Jack Theakston points out, if you've got an original print of a pre-1923 US film, you can do what you want with it and duplicate it to your heart's content, even if someone has copyrighted a restoration.
