JamesM

You can trace the main British film company rights to Granda or Studio Canal using this list on the BFI website.

Some major studios own some British films (eg I Start Counting, Night of the Demon).

You will find it difficult to persuade any of these companies to allow you to distribute any of their films, even if they have been languishing for over sixty years.

In addition to these, there are smaller rights holders, such as Renown Pictures, who own the rights to Scrooge (1951) in the UK for example. Then the BBC own some other output (Butchers Films I think). There will be other entities owning rights to British films made in the last century. There are multitudes of rights holders of films made since the 1970s.

Biffer

Thanks, folks!

As I suspected, seeking copy and/or distribution licences could rapidly develop into a legal minefield (I don't think my wallet could bear the strain).

Back to the drawing board (or the bank manager).

'Biffer'

Windthrop

I agree - it is misleading and its not just the older b & W mvies that are being sold a copyright-free. I saw a copy of 'Dr. Syn the Scarecrow' a British Walt Disney flick being advertised as out of copyright and thats a early 60s flick. The very thought that Disney corporation would let a movie of theirs fall out of copyright was ludicrous !

I have also noticed that some of these movies have recently been on tv and I suspect that these are tv recordings. One website 'Collectors Copy' claims movies are in the public domain and even admits some of its products are tv copies !

Don't want to sound as if am obsessive but am concerned about the quality of the copy if these are tv tranfers.

DB7

The problem is that many on ebay are now a copy of somebody else's copy, which was also a copy of an earlier copy etc etc, and they're about 6th generation poor quality and witn crc errors.

I get few off ebay now compared with a few years ago.

batman

You really have to pick and choose what you buy and from whom. It is often easy to tell which sellers are not worth using by the way they describe their items and by the feedback they receive. I buy quite a bit off e-bay but there are only a handful of sellers that I regulalrly go back to. I haven't used Appledonmanor (the Canadian seller mentioned) but I have been stiffed by other Canadian sellers.

Bats.

"Do you know why fattries are called fattries .... it's because they are big and people make things in them."

paul mcCormack

forget all the crap in the replys i am sat here looking at just about all the films made by will hay you can get boxed sets and single copys of all his films i got some off ebay but they were copys and not the real thing they are good copys but copys keep looking you will find them i have them on video and dvd.paul

DB7

Music stars 'must keep copyright'

UK copyright laws should be extended to prevent musicians from missing out on royalties in later life, MPs have said.

Sir Paul McCartney and Sir Cliff Richard are among the artists who will see the current 50-year limit on their early sound recordings expire soon.

The House of Commons culture committee said people had a "moral right" to keep control of their creations while alive.

The copyright term for sound recordings should be extended to at least 70 years, the committee recommended.

That would allow ageing performers to continue to benefit from their early recordings throughout their lifetimes.

Over the next decade, some 7,000 people - including backing singers and musicians - will lose royalties from recordings made in the late 1950s and 1960s, the MPs' report said.

'Weak' protection

The committee contrasted the current 50-year rule for recordings with the position of songwriters, whose families keep the copyright to their compositions for 70 years after they die.

"We have not heard a convincing reason why a composer and his or her heirs should benefit from a term of copyright which extends for lifetime and beyond, but a performer should not," the report said.

In the US, performers keep copyright for 95 years after the song has been released, while the level is 70 years in Australia.

"Given the strength and importance of the creative industries in the UK, it seems extraordinary that the protection of intellectual property rights should be weaker here than in many other countries whose creative industries are less successful," the report said.


The creative industries are already of huge importance to our economy and are going to play an even bigger part in the future
John Whittingdale
Committee chairman
"We recommend that the government should press the European Commission to bring forward proposals for an extension of copyright term for sound recordings to at least 70 years."

The report is the result of the committee's 18-month inquiry into the effects of new technology on the creative industries.

It also recommended new measures to help tackle piracy, including heavier penalties and a new law to ban the recording of films with camcorders in cinemas.

The government should also make it legal to copy music for personal use only - such as from a CD to an MP3 player - it said.

Committee chairman John Whittingdale said: "The creative industries are already of huge importance to our economy and are going to play an even bigger part in the future."

'Global leader'

New media offered "terrific opportunities", he said, but also presented "challenges to ensure that consumers are protected and that creators continue to receive proper payment for the use of their works".

"By strengthening the protection of intellectual property and the rights of creators, we can ensure that Britain continues to be one of the world's leading centres for the creative industries," he said.

UK music industry trade body the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), which has led the campaign to extend the copyright term, welcomed the report.

BPI chief executive Geoff Taylor said: "We urge the government to respond positively to the select committee and now make the case in Europe for fair copyright protection for British performers and record companies."

But several organisations oppose the move, including the Libraries and Archives Copyright Alliance, who told the committee it would "massively upset the balance between right holders and users".

chudofbroady

How do you fix.repair the dvds with crc errors? anyone know?

clitheroekid

this might help

JamesM

I know a 'broadcast''s copyright lasts for 5 years, but how does that work with a television drama?

penfold

AFAIK there's no distinction between TV drama and films, so we should be talking about 75 years after the death of the prime movers again....

Bit of a Bay Window, what??

Steve Crook

What makes you think that a broadcast's copyright lasts for 5 years?
I would have thought it would be the same as any other recording or performance

Steve

DB7

50 years iirc.

Cheeky Bob

I think it's 70 years, but that's otherwise absolutely correct. In practice, this means that virtually no television is legally in the public domain anywhere in Europe.

I've been racking my brains trying to think where JamesM's claim came from, and can only assume that it's a misinterpretation of the licensing terms offered by rightsholders to broadcasters - for instance, the BBC will license the right to show a certain film or programme a specified number of times within a specified period, which might well be five years (though not necessarily).

But this absolutely does not mean that the copyright expires afterwards - the rightsholder will have held it all along, and will continue to hold it after the arrangement with the broadcaster has expired. And of course if the BBC owns the material outright, five-year licensing terms won't apply in the first place (unless of course the BBC licenses it to another broadcaster).

DB7

On this site it states:
P-01: UK Copyright Law fact sheet

The 1988 Copyright, Designs and Patents Act states the duration as;

1. For literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works70 years from the end of the calendar year in which the last remaining author of the work dies.
   If the author is unknown, copyright will last for 70 years from end of the calendar year in which the work was created, although if it is made available to the public during that time, (by publication, authorised performance, broadcast, exhibition, etc.), then the duration will be 70 years from the end of the year that the work was first made available.
2. Sound Recordings and broadcasts50 years from the end of the calendar year in which the work was created, or,
   if the work is released within that time: 50 years from the end of the calendar year in which the work was first released.
3. Films 70 years from the end of the calendar year in which the last principal director, author or composer dies.
   If the work is of unknown authorship: 70 years from end of the calendar year of creation, or if made available to the public in that time, 70 years from the end of the year the film was first made available.
4. Typographical arrangement of published editions25 years from the end of the calendar year in which the work was first published.
5. Broadcasts and cable programmes50 years from the end of the calendar year in which the broadcast was made.