Copyright case

[Aidan Ranney]

This is a fairly recent event. Such sites will probably pop up sooner or
later, but I'm not sure about how popular Japanese silent cinema is and
whether many people will be interested in hosting/organizing such a site.
On 7/14/06, Peter Larson <peter_larson2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> 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
> >
> >
>
>
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