Copyright Talk

A ninth circuit court case opinion published last week illustrates the importance of having good, solid contracts in place when you license intellectual property. It also illustrates the complexity of handling works in an age where new technologies continue to be invented.

Orson Welles wrote Citizen Kane, a movie screenplay for one of our cinematic masterpieces, in 1939. At the time it was released, the movie was not particularly successful, at least not in a monetary sense. Welles received very little actual cash for the movie.

Welles’ daughter later sued Turner Entertainment, which now owns the rights and contracts to Citizen Kane, claiming that Welles and his heirs continue to own the rights to a home video release of the movie (and therefore, royalties are owed to them for home video sales made).

The case turns primarily on the original contracts signed in 1939. Although lawyers are pretty good at doing laundry lists of possible rights that may or may not be covered by the agreement in question, it is not necessarily clear whether Welles signed away all his rights in the copyright, or if some new technologies, namely home video in this case, were not covered. If they are not covered, then a new agreement must be made when a company wishes to release the movie in that form. Turner argues that Welles signed a contract giving all his rights to the copyright to the studio (RKO). Welles’ daughter argues that the contrcat clearly stated which rights were being given, and that home video was not on the list. The answer turns, in part, on whether the parties had an intent to encompass everything known and unknown at the time.

There is no question that copyrights can be extremely valuable, although most are not. But everyone that is sold or exploited must be treated as if it was as valuable as Citizen Kane, because you cannot tell at the outset how valuable something may be down the line. Take, for example, the article written by Mary Schmich in which she gave a mock commencement address to the graduates of 1997. The column became a huge viral hit, spawned a musical release by Baz Lehrman and became a hit on radio stations all over.

It can happen. So treat your copyrights as if they are gold. They just may eventually be. Maybe we’ve found the philosopher’s stone after all - technology.

copyright, Citizen Kane, home video, digital rights