Copyright case

[Peter Larson]

If this is true then where are all the Japanese silent
cinema download sites?

--- Aaron Gerow <aaron.gerow at yale.edu> wrote:

> There was an interesting decision in a copyright
> case in Japan this 
> week. Paramount had sued a DVD maker who had been
> selling Roman Holiday 
> for 500 yen. The maker argued that since that film
> was produced in 
> 1953, and since the amendment to the Copyright Law
> that extended the 
> copyright protection for films from 50 to 70 years
> took effect on 
> January 1, 2004, Roman Holiday's copyright had
> already expired before 
> then and was now public domain. Paramount, which was
> marketing its own 
> DVD of the film at nearly 5000 yen, argued that
> since 0:00 hours on 
> January 1, 2004, is also 24:00 hours on December 31,
> 2003,the copyright 
> for all films made in 1953 was still in effect and
> that the extension 
> of copyright was  applicable to their film. In other
> words, they were 
> arguing that time of day should be used to figure
> when copyright 
> expires, while the DVD maker was saying it was
> simply a factor of the 
> year. Paramount was emboldened by the fact that the
> Agency for Cultural 
> Affairs had also given this interpretation,
> partially in the interest 
> of protecting all those films made in 1953,
> including Ozu's Tokyo Story.
> 
> The Tokyo District Court, however, ruled that the
> interpretation given 
> by Paramount and by the Agency for Cultural Affairs
> had no logical 
> basis (atari mae!). The copyright for all films made
> in 1953 had thus 
> expired before the amended law came into effect. The
> court reiterated 
> that the amended copyright law only extended the
> copyright protection 
> of films whose copyright was still in effect as of
> January 1, 2004. 
> This means that not only Roman Holiday, but also
> Tokyo Story and all 
> other films made in 1953 and before are legally
> public domain under 
> Japanese law.
> 
> Paramount intends to appeal the ruling, so we will
> be hearing more 
> about this later. But since the fight was generally
> over whether films 
> from 1953 are still protected or not--not over
> whether the twenty year 
> extension of the copyright period applies to films
> made from 1952 and 
> before whose copyright had already expired--it seems
> fairly certain 
> that unless there is a new law, everything from 1952
> on back is public 
> domain.
> 
> Aaron Gerow
> Assistant Professor
> Film Studies Program/East Asian Languages and
> Literatures
> Yale University
> 53 Wall Street, Room 316
> PO Box 208363
> New Haven, CT 06520-8363
> USA
> Phone: 1-203-432-7082
> Fax: 1-203-432-6764
> e-mail: aaron.gerow at yale.edu
> 
> 


__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com