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Dastar Corporation v. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation et al
Facts
In 1948, General Dwight D. ... Doubleday registered the book with the Copyright Office in 1948, published the book, and also granted exclusive television rights to Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. Fox then arranged for Time, Inc., to produce a television series, also called Crusade in Europe, based on the book, and Time assigned its copyright in the series to Fox. ... The series combined a soundtrack based on a narration of the book with film footage from the United States Army, Navy, and Coast Guard, British Ministry of Information and War Office, the National Film Board of Canada, and unidentified “Newsreel Pool Cameramen. ... ” Fox, however, did not renew the copyright on the Crusade television series, which expired in 1977, leaving the television series in the public domain. In 1988, Fox reacquired the television rights in General Eisenhower’s book, including the exclusive right to distribute the Crusade series on video and to sublicense others to do so. SFM Entertainment and New Line Home Video, Inc acquired from Fox the exclusive rights to distribute Crusade on video. ...
In 1995, Dastar wanted to expand their product lines to include videos. Dastar then purchased eight beta cam tapes of the original version of the Crusade television series, which is in the public domain, copied them, and then edited the series in anticipation of the renewed interest in World War II on the 50th anniversary of the war’s end.
Approximate Word count = 992
Approximate Pages = 4
(250 words per page double spaced)
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