Re: Loss of Amos and Andy copyright?

On Fri, April 24, 1998, 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.

Maybe you're thinking of Silverman v. CBS, 870 F.2d 40 (2d Cir. 1989). As I recall, the dealt with the standard for abandoned trademarks, and whether CBS had "intent not to recume use." There was some kind of copyright discussion, but I don't think it dealt with 'abandonment" of the copyrights.

Andrew J. Wu
awu[_at_]sidley.com

This message is not legal advice, does not establish any attorney-client relationship, and represents solely the opinions of the author. Received on Sat Apr 25 1998 - 21:06:58 GMT