Re: copyright holder of "Birds" by Hitchcock

On Fri, Mar 17, 2000, Jayne Sebby <jsebby1[_at_]unl.edu> wrote:
>
> On Thu, 16 Mar 2000, Thomas Workman <tworkman[_at_]erols.com> wrote:
> >
> > On Wed, 15 Mar 2000, Ari Kahan <akahan[_at_]netcom.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > That's not always reliable, since copyright can change hands
> > > (sometimes many times) after the film's release. In this case,
> > > though, it would come out all right: The Birds is still owned
> > > by Universal.
> >
> > I agree it is not a final answer, but a great starting point. If you
> > write to them, and they tell you they still own it... then you have
> > your answer. If they tell you they have transferred their rights to
> > person X, then you can follow the trail to person "X". One could
> > even check with the Copyright office, to see if any transfers have
> > been recorded. You need to have a starting point, and the credits on
> > the film provide a starting point...
>
> One sad caveat -- don't automatically believe everybody who tells you
> they own a copyright in something. We almost paid thousands of dollars
> to one of the big TV networks a couple of years ago because they claimed
> copyright on some footage we were using in one of our shows. However,
> after a little further investigation, we discovered that the footage was
> already in the public domain and available elsewhere for merely the cost
> of duplication.

Did not NBC in the 70's do the same thing. If my memory serves me correctly they paid over 2 million for a new logo that was very similar to a logo from a TV station in Nebraska.

Greg Erkins
<gerkins[_at_]gci.net> Received on Sun Mar 19 2000 - 00:47:00 GMT