Author: Terry Stibal
Date: 2005-02-07 13:53
This is an excellent point for the CRO to be making, for unlike patents and trademarks, there is very little effort involved in registering copyright (filing and payment of a fee, no "technical" issues or searches involved). In other words, copyright is "fire and forget", and many holders disappear into the woodwork immediately.
Nothing is more frustrating than to try and contact a copyright holder for permission, only to have them not even take the minimal effort to return a pre-paid reply cards with "OK, here's how much I want" or "No, I don't want to allow use of my work". I can understand if there was some expense involved on their part, but doing nothing (and many people do just that) is bad for commerce and just plain rude.
On the other hand, I can also respect the wishes of the holder. Like all other creative rights, copyright was granted for the very good reason of guaranteeing the gains from the work to the author. However, unlike with songs (where the author has the exclusive right of first performance, but thereafter has to accept a standard fee for "cover" performances), the holder of copyright can deny use of the work forever if he or she desires.
The play "In Old Chicago" was released for non-board dramatic use one time back in the 1930's or '40's, and the film that resulted (Roxie Hart, a neat little romp with all sorts of hidden talent (Phil Silvers, William Frawley) in addition to the "stars") offended the copyright holder so badly that she refused to release the rights again within her lifetime. Only after her death did her estate release them to the producers of the musical Chicago. Something similar exists with the musical review "Oh What A Lovely War!", with the holder (Joan Littlewood) restricting what could be done with her work and making it hard on those who admired it to produce productions throughout her lifespan.
I'd opt for something similar to the song approach, where the owner could hold it close to the vest as long as they wanted, but once permission was granted for one performance, all would be allowed to do so with the appropriate compensation. Don't know if that will be done in this case, though.
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