RE: Its a Wonderful Life back in copyright?

Concerning the question of the copyright on "It's a Wonderful Life":

Republic Pictures let its copyright to "It's a Wonderful Life" lapse in 1974. This put the movie into the public domain, meaning that although Republic Pictures owned the original negative of the film, anyone with a copy of it could show it anytime-free of any fees. And show it they did!

Apparently, inspired by the Supreme Court ruling in _Stewart v. Abend_, 495 U.S. 207 (1990) (coincidentally regarding another Jimmy Stewart film, "Rear Window"), Republic Pictures announced last June that it was reclaiming its copyright to the film. "As the owner of the original negative for "It's a Wonderful Life", we have taken these steps to protect this great American classic," Republic Pictures Chairman and CEO Russell Goldsmith told a Hollywood trade paper when making the announcement.

_Stewart v. Abend_ concerned distribution of the profits on the re-release of "Rear Window."
The Court decided that the distributor must share the profits with the copyright holder of the underlining story. As Republic still owns the copyright of the short story upon which "It's a Wonderful Life" is based, the company concluded that it can again lay claim to the film.

To strengthen this claim, Republic also acquired the musical rights to the film. "We wanted to get all the rights that were protectable from the movie and get them in one place, under our control," said Steven Beeks, executive vice president of Republic Pictures Corp. "It's in different versions . . . people have hacked it up . . . people have these scratched up negatives . . . the picture isn't given its due."

Republic Pictures has bombarded broadcasters, cable channels and video dealers with written notices cautioning them that they cannot sell, rent or show "It's a Wonderful Life" without paying Republic a royalty fee. As a result, in December in many papers in brief paragraphs in the entertainment sections, there was mention of the fact that "It's a Wonderful Life" would not be shown this Christmas because of the reassertion of copyright by Republic Pictures.

     --Thaddeus P. Bejnar lgllawlib[_at_]technet.nm.org Received on Thu Jan 06 1994 - 15:38:34 GMT