Movies for TV - Early Television Foundation

COPYRIGHT AND RELEASES 365
time to establish any particular method of handling the various as-
pects. Leave these matters to your attorneys; that is what they are
paid for and follow their advice. A case may seem to the layman to
be very similar, or even the same as his, but there may be a hidden
hooker in it which renders all previous decisions on comparable
issues inoperative in this one. If he fails to get legal advice or ignores
it, that slight difference may cost him his job or his fortune, de-
pending on his position.
It is only good business to get the release contract drawn up and
signed before the production goes into rehearsal. Sometimes it hap-
pens that this has not been done, with the result that many precious
days and dollars were tied up while the legal departments hunted
for someone to give a release. There have been cases, where even
after a very thorough search had been made and someone located
who was presumed to be in position to grant permission, a suit en-
sued because the granter did not really hold those rights, and a
It is
person with prior rights appeared and claimed infringement.
sometimes possible to show in cases like that that a conscientious
effort to make an honest deal has been made by the scope of the
attorney's
search. The courts will sometimes consider this in de-
termining the verdict and amount of damages.
As many people have discovered to their discomfort there may
still be trouble even after a release has been obtained. In one case
it concerned an old movie, which was released by the distributor for
TV use. Shortly after it was televised the producer turned up and
insisted that he held the only television rights to it and demanded
substantial damages. However, before his case was settled the author
of the original story appeared on the scene and insisted that he was
the person they should have dealt with in renting the film for air
use. The case was settled amicably out of court, but it could have
led to involved and long, drawn-out court proceedings.
In the case mentioned above, even though the television station
had obtained a release to use the film on TV, and the form of re-
lease was the usual one, which, "holds safe the hirer from suits aris-
ing from the use of the film," and goes on to state that the owner
guarantees the immunity of the hirer from damage awards, it might