RE: Peter Pan protected?

Fair enough. Where were the exhibits? I couldn't find them. There's also a letter from counsel attached as "exhibit B," but those aren't attached to the copy of the complaint at the web site.

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-cni-copyright[_at_]cni.org [mailto:owner-cni-copyright[_at_]cni.org] On Behalf Of Roy Murphy
Sent: Thursday, January 09, 2003 1:29 PM To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: RE: Peter Pan protected?

On 01/08/03 at 07:46 AM Jessica Friedman wrote:
> Did you find the complaint online? If so, where? I have to give a
> lecture in a few weeks to small publishers under the tagline "Court
> Cases That Can Help You or Hurt You," and this might be worth
> mentioning, both in the context of Eldred and in the specific context
> of Peter Pan as a work that perhaps is not worth the risk of
> republishing unless this case results in a decision for the author.

Start here -- links to the complaint and a FAQ are on this page: http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/about/cases/emily_somma_peter_pan.shtml

> Chris Mohr <chrismohr[_at_]sprintmail.com> wrote:
> I took a quick look at the complaint just for giggles--seems to me
> that in order for the publisher to win, they'll have to prove that
> the story was not 'published' in the U.S. before 1923. If it was
> published after that date, registered, and renewed, then Sonny Bono
> comes into play and the work's still under copyright. (The complaint
> says that Peter Pan was published, but it's conspicuously silent on
> where). Under the '09 Act, performance was not synonymous with
> publication.

According to the complaint, the copyright holders assert that since some

licensed works remain under copyright, then all works based on the characters in the PD work are subject to licensing. Actually the case looks like a copyright/trademark conflict.

     On September 25, Palmer wrote a letter to Plaintiff, a true copy of
     which is attached to this Complaint as Exhibit A. She stated "As 
to
     your request for permission to publish your book in UK, EU
     countries (now 15) and the U.S., I regret to inform you that the
     Hospitals Trustees have decided not to authorize this. The play by
     J.M. Barrie is in full copyright in the US until 2023. Unauthorized
     works, which contain the Peter Pan characters and elements from the
     original Work, are not adaptable in the US without the permission
     of the Hospital, being protected by the laws of trademark and
     unfair competition. If therefore, you are already
     distributing/publishing the unauthorized publication "After the
     Rain" in the US we would ask you to cease and from any acts in
     respect of the Work and its characters, including its adaptation,
     production, sale, advertising and distribution."

The 1923 date appears to be 95 years from the 1928 US registration of the play Peter Pan not life+50 which period ended in 1987 (P.M. Barrie having died in 1937). The '28 registration on the play is predated by a 1924 silent film made by Paramount, according to the complaint. The complaint seems to hinge on the claim that the novels which predated the

play entered the PD in 1987.

Roy Murphy CSpice: A Mailing List for Clergy Spouses murphy@panix.com http://www.panix.com/~murphy/CSpice.html Received on Fri Jan 10 2003 - 14:49:10 GMT