Re: Loss of Amos and Andy copyright?

Lee Hamovitz <ldh[_at_]loop.com> wrote:
>
> A few years ago, I believe, there was a court decision, (possibly
> Supreme) regarding CBS, Inc losing copyright to the old "Amos and Andy"
> characters. I think CBS claimed they felt the shows were racially
> offensive, so they kept them locked up in the vault, and sued when a
> theatrical stage producer tried to revive the characters. The court, I
> believe, ruled that CBS lost rights to the characters because they had
> done nothing over the years to proclaim their rights. In other words,
> they should have actively said "we own this and purposely aren't using it."
>
> My question, this is all fuzzy and deep in my memory and I'm not sure
> I'm not imagining all this. I've searched all over and can't find
> anything. Is there an actual case like this? Does anyone have a
> citation? Please respond to me personally, as well as the list.

I recall the decision also, although I do not have the actual case. My recollection is the court found that the Amos & Andy characters were in the public domain. This has nothing to do with the TV shows. The TV shows, to my knowledge, were copyrighted and renewed by CBS.

I don't think there is any clause in copyright that says you must use a copyright to retain it. The fact that CBS "had done nothing over the years to proclaim their rights" in the TV show goes against the intent of copyright law, but I do not believe there is a "use it or lose it" clause in copyright or case law.

Larry Urbanski
<larryu[_at_]interaccess.com> Received on Sat Apr 25 1998 - 15:59:11 GMT