Yuku free message boards

mmargrajr wrote:

---

Small notes and commentary on the above.

1. Cadaverino is correct about recordings not federally copyrighted before 1972, however, script writers would submit their scripts for copyright and that remains the same for both. Hence when a script is copyrighted, so is the recording. Don't bother seeking a copyright status on a recording, or a renewal status. Simply go to an expert who knows which recordings are and are not copyrighted and has been in the OTR hobby for decades. Those who know whether the initial copyright was registered by the sponsor or the author or the producer, whether the names of characters of catch phrases was trademarked, and whether the music contained in the broadcast recording is copyrighted.

Remember, you can put 500 copyright attorneys in the same room and they would all have a different take on the subject.

Off the side, I visit the LOC once a month. It's not difficult to do this. Simply visit the catalog office, find the D.U. number for the script you want, and have it ordered as it's off-site and takes an average of two weeks to get to the library of your choice (usually outside College Park, MD). Be prepared if you are seeking more than 12 scripts. All of the scripts were boxed as they were registered and in the order they were received. Hence one script may be in a box of 20 and the other 19 are from other shows. So seeking 40 scripts can mean they have to pull 40 boxes and frankly, they won't do more than 12 at the same time.

2. Small trivia, two recordings were copyrighted before 1972. The sound of the creaking door from INNER SANCTUM and the NBC Chimes. I have a copy of the registration cards from the card files at the Library of Congress.

3. The War of the Worlds panic broadcast is still copyrighted (to answer Eric Huffstutler's question). You can purchase the commercial release and flip it over to the backside to see that CBS, Inc. still retains the copyrights as listed on the back cover. If you buy the commercial release, by the way, instead of MP3 copies, you'll find that you have sound quality that kicks butt and no record scratches.

4. Wich2 is correct. He was referring to the panic broadcast version of War of the Worlds, not the Lux as people might have assumed. The panic broadcast has been done with different performers over the decades and I myself must have fifty versions (courtesy of Gordon Payton in NJ). Heck, there was an anniversary performance reconstructed on stage at the FOTR Convention a few years back (and yes, they did get permission from CBS, Inc. to do it) and they changed one line in the script solely for an in-joke that only those who attend FOTR on a regular basis would have found funny (hilarious, actually).

In short, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE do not "assume" that a recording from the past is in the public domain solely because of age, or a lack of info when doing a search. A guy in California did a documentary about Old Time Radio and used a 30 second excerpt from the broadcast. CBS, Inc. sued him and he was forced to re-edit the documentary for commercial release because he claimed he could not find a copyright status.