Jump to: navigation, search

Copyright status of Hitchcock films

Introduction

The purpose of this page is to try and gather authoritative information regarding the copyright status of Hitchcock's films, including details of rights holders. Where possible, external reference links should be used to provide further details and confirmation of information.

This page is still under construction!

See also:

Background Information

UK Copyright: Hitchcock's British Films (1925-39)

The films from "The Pleasure Garden" (1925) through to "Jamaica Inn" (1939) were produced by British film studios and so fall under the remit of the copyright laws of the United Kingdom[1].

At the time Hitchcock made these films, the Copyright Act 1911 was in place. This legislation did not specifically mention motion pictures, and so films were protected either as dramatic works or as a series of photographs for a period of 50 years, after which they would enter the Public Domain[2].

At the start of 1957, the Copyright Act 1956 superceeded the 1911 legislation. In particular, the Act introduced specific terms for film, radio and television (again, with a 50 year period). The Act was applied retrospectively to material that had not entered the Public Domain.

From 1976 onwards, Hitchcock's major British films began to enter the Public Domain in the United Kingdom as their 50 year terms expired.

In 1989, the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988[3] came into force. The Act initially continued the 50 year copyright period, so Hitchcock's films continued to enter the Public Domain, with "Jamaica Inn" entering the Public Domain in 1990.

In 1993, the European Union Directive 93/98/EEC[4] came into force and was adopted by the United Kingdom in 1995 (coming into force on 01/Jul/1995). The purpose of the Directive was to harmonise the term of copyright protection within Europe. The Directive specifically protects films for a period of 70 years from the death of the last of the following:

  1. the principal director
  2. the author of the screenplay
  3. the author of the dialogue
  4. the composer of music specifically created for use in the film

Critically, Directive 93/98/EEC was applied retrospectively in the United Kingdom — so, any films that had previously entered the Public Domain would have their copyright restored if they met the above criteria[5].

Once Directive 93/98/EEC was adopted by the United Kingdom, all of Hitchcock's British films had their copyright restored and were no longer in the Public Domain. As Hitchcock died in 1980, the copyright term of the films is until at least 2050 (being 70 years after his death). Six of the British films were written by Charles Bennett, so their copyright term is until at least 2065 (being 70 years after Bennett's death in 1995).

US Copyright: Hitchcock's British Films (1925-39)

Prior to 1996, it is likely that all of Hitchcock's British films had entered the Public Domain in the USA.

During 1989, the Berne Convention Implementation Act of 1988 came into force in the USA[6]. However, the US did not initially implement Article 18 of the Berne Convention[7], thus any Hitchcock films which had been Public Domain in the US would continue to remain so (regardless of their copyright status in the UK).

The Uruguay Round Agreements Act[8] was signed into US law on 08/Dec/1994 by President Clinton and came into force on 01/Jan/1995. Title 17 of the Copright Law of the United States[9] was reworded (article 104A) to include copyright restorations on foreign works. Restoration of copyright only occured if the work was still covered by copyright in their source country on 01/Jan/1996. As noted above, on that date, Directive 93/98/EEC in the UK had already retroactively restored copyright upon Hitchcock's British films. Therefore, on 01/Jan/1996, those films had their US copyrights restored and were no longer in the US Public Domain.

As, prior to the copyright restoration, many US companies had legally been selling video tapes of Public Domain transfers, Title 17 was also ammended to include a provision for a "reliance party":

A reliance party is a person or business who has depended on the public domain status of the work in utilizing the work in a way that would, after restoration, be considered copyright infringement ... Once a work is restored, a person or business who is a reliance party may continue to exploit the work without liability until the restored copyright owner either serves actual notice on the reliance party or until the Copyright Office published in the Federal Register a notice of intent to restore copyright. Once either of these occurs, the reliance party has one year to sell off stock. The reliance party may not make further copies ... of the work.

Therefore, such companies could legally continue to sell video tapes or DVDs of Hitchcock's British films despite the fact that they were no longer in the US Public Domain. However, once one of the two trigger events occured, the company should cease creating any new copies of the films and should sell off any existing stock within 12 months.

At the beginning of 1996, the primary UK rights holders to the films were Carlton Film Distributors, Ltd and UGC UK. Both companies proceeded to file "Notice of Intent to Enforce a Restored Copyright" for the films with the US Copyright Office and these notices were subsequently made publically available on the US Copyright Office web site[10]. Specifically, the following Federal Register notices include the British Hitchcock films:

  • Federal Register: August 22, 1997 (Volume 62, Number 163, Pages 44841-44854)
    • Carlton Film Distributors, Ltd
      • The Lodger (1927)
      • The Lady Vanishes (1938)
      • The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)
      • Sabotage (1936)
      • Secret Agent (1936)
      • The 39 Steps (1935)
      • Young and Innocent (1937)
    • UGC UK
      • Blackmail (1929)
      • Champagne (1928)
      • Elstree Calling (1930)
      • Juno and the Paycock (1930)
      • The Manxman (1929)
      • Murder! (1930)
      • Number Seventeen (1932)
      • Rich and Strange (1931)
      • The Ring (1927)
      • The Skin Game (1931)
  • Federal Register: January 30, 1998 (Volume 63, Number 20, Pages 5141-5216)
    • Carlton Film Distributors, Ltd
      • Downhill (1927)

Of the remaining films:

  • The Pleasure Garden (1925) -- the US rights appear to have been held by the Estate of Raymond Rohauer[11]
  • The Farmer's Wife (1928) -- the US rights appear to have been held by Warner Brothers, Inc.[12]
  • Jamaica Inn (1939) -- the US rights appear to have been held by the Estate of Raymond Rohauer[13]

Following the publication of the "Notice of Intent to Enforce a Restored Copyright", any company profitting from the sale of Public Domain transfers of the listed films had until August 1997 to sell any remaining stock.

To date, a number of US companies have continued to sell Public Domain transfers of Hitchcock's British films on both DVD and video tape. As these are done so without the permission of the right holders (currently Studio Canal/Canal+ Image UK and ITV Global Entertainment Ltd), these should be regarded as copyright infringements...

the unauthorized use of material that is covered by copyright law, in a manner that violates one of the copyright owner's exclusive rights, such as the right to reproduce or perform the copyrighted work, or to make derivative works

However, it should also be noted that several US companies have released DVDs which are fully licensed by the right holders, including:

When purchasing a DVD in the USA, you should ensure that the packaging states that the tranfer is licensed from the rights holder. The following two examples are taken from the packaging of licensed US DVDs:

sample01.jpg

sample02.jpg

Companies which have released poor quality transfers that appear not to be licensed from the rights holder (i.e. the rights holder is not included anywhere on the packaging) include:

  • BCI Eclipse
  • Brentwood Home Video
  • Delta Entertainment
  • Diamond Entertainment
  • Genius Entertainment
  • Laserlight Video
  • Madacy Entertainment
  • Mill Creek Entertainment
  • Platinum Disc Corporation
  • St. Clair Vision
  • Triad Productions Ltd
  • Vintage Home Entertainment
  • Westlake Entertainment Group
  • Whirlwind Media

For further details, please see: Bootleg DVDs & Blu-ray releases

Golan v Holder (2012)

The restoration of copyright to foreign works has been a contentious issue, however the case of Golan v Holder (2012) upheld the changes to US copyright and ruled that they were not unconstitutional.

US Copyright: Hitchcock's American Films (1940-76)

  • text to be added here!

Filmography

This section lists further details for each of Hitchcock's 53 major films. Where known, the original production companies and distributors are listed, along with the current rights holder.

Where the current rights holder is not the original production company, an acquisitions and merger path is shown to indicate how the current rights holder aquired the film.

Further notes are included to help clarify the information. Where information is dubious, unconfirmed or speculatitive, it should be indicated in italicised text.

The Pleasure Garden (1925)

other notes:

  • Granada International does not appear to own a reference print of this film, but (differing) archive prints are held by the British Film Institute National Archive (UK) and in the G. William Jones Film and Video Collection[17] (Southern Methodist University, Texas, USA)
  • a separate restoration edit of the film (with replacement intertitles) was made by Raymond Rohauer and is part of the Rohauer Film Collection -- the (distribution?) rights for this version may be held by The Douris Corporation, Ohio, USA. The "Estate of Raymond Rohauer" filed a US copyright claim over the film in 1991[18].

The Mountain Eagle (1926)

other notes:

  • there are no surviving prints of this film

The Lodger (1927)

other notes:

  • Carlton Film Distributors, Ltd supplied a "Notice of Intent To Enforce Restored Copyright"[25] to the US Copyright Office, in Accordance With the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (1994), which became effective on 22/Aug/1997

Downhill (1927)

other notes:

  • Carlton Film Distributors, Ltd supplied a "Notice of Intent To Enforce Restored Copyright"[29] to the US Copyright Office, in Accordance With the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (1994), which became effective on 30/Jan/1998

Easy Virtue (1928)

other notes:

  • Granada International does not appear to own a reference/archive print of this film and all DVD releases appear to use a lower quality 16mm reduction print

The Ring (1927)

other notes:

  • UGC UK supplied a "Notice of Intent To Enforce Restored Copyright"[36] to the US Copyright Office, in Accordance With the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (1994), which became effective on 22/Aug/1997

The Farmer's Wife (1928)

Champagne (1928)

other notes:

  • UGC UK supplied a "Notice of Intent To Enforce Restored Copyright"[43] to the US Copyright Office, in Accordance With the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (1994), which became effective on 22/Aug/1997

The Manxman (1929)

other notes:

  • UGC UK supplied a "Notice of Intent To Enforce Restored Copyright"[47] to the US Copyright Office, in Accordance With the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (1994), which became effective on 22/Aug/1997

Blackmail (1929)

other notes:

  • UGC UK supplied a "Notice of Intent To Enforce Restored Copyright"[51] to the US Copyright Office, in Accordance With the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (1994), which became effective on 22/Aug/1997

Juno and the Paycock (1930)

other notes:

  • UGC UK supplied a "Notice of Intent To Enforce Restored Copyright"[55] to the US Copyright Office, in Accordance With the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (1994), which became effective on 22/Aug/1997
  • Studio Canal does not appear to own a reference/archive print of this film and all DVD releases appear to use a lower quality 16mm reduction print

Murder! (1930)

other notes:

  • UGC UK supplied a "Notice of Intent To Enforce Restored Copyright"[59] to the US Copyright Office, in Accordance With the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (1994), which became effective on 22/Aug/1997

The Skin Game (1931)

other notes:

  • UGC UK supplied a "Notice of Intent To Enforce Restored Copyright"[63] to the US Copyright Office, in Accordance With the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (1994), which became effective on 22/Aug/1997

Rich and Strange (1931)

other notes:

  • UGC UK supplied a "Notice of Intent To Enforce Restored Copyright"[68] to the US Copyright Office, in Accordance With the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (1994), which became effective on 22/Aug/1997

Number Seventeen (1932)

other notes:

  • UGC UK supplied a "Notice of Intent To Enforce Restored Copyright"[73] to the US Copyright Office, in Accordance With the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (1994), which became effective on 22/Aug/1997

Waltzes from Vienna (1934)

other notes:

The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)

The 39 Steps (1935)

Secret Agent (1936)

Sabotage (1936)

Young and Innocent (1937)

The Lady Vanishes (1938)

Jamaica Inn (1939)

Rebecca (1940)

Foreign Correspondent (1940)

Mr and Mrs Smith (1941)

Suspicion (1941)

Saboteur (1942)

Shadow of a Doubt (1943)

Lifeboat (1944)

Spellbound (1945)

Notorious (1946)

The Paradine Case (1947)

Rope (1948)

Under Capricorn (1949)

Stage Fright (1950)

Strangers on a Train (1951)

I Confess (1953)

Dial M for Murder (1954)

Rear Window (1954)

To Catch a Thief (1955)

The Trouble with Harry (1955)

The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)

The Wrong Man (1956)

Vertigo (1958)

North by Northwest (1959)

Psycho (1960)

other notes:

  • in 1962, Hitchcock swapped the rights to "Psycho" and his TV anthology series for approx 150,000 shares of MCA stock[79]

The Birds (1963)

Marnie (1964)

Torn Curtain (1966)

Topaz (1969)

Frenzy (1972)

Family Plot (1976)

External Reference Links

  1. ↑ Wikipedia: Copyright law of the United Kingdom
  2. ↑ Wikipedia: Copyright law of the United Kingdom, Works eligible for protection
  3. ↑ Wikipedia: Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
  4. ↑ Wikipedia: Directive harmonizing the term of copyright protection
  5. ↑ Wikipedia: Directive harmonizing the term of copyright protection, Copyright restoration
  6. ↑ Wikipedia: Berne Convention Implementation Act of 1988
  7. ↑ Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, Article 18
  8. ↑ Wikipedia: Uruguay Round Agreements Act
  9. ↑ US Copyright Office: Copright Law of the United States
  10. ↑ US Copyright Office: Notices of Restored Copyrights
  11. ↑ US Copyright Office: Document V2618P085, 1991-01-25
  12. ↑ US Copyright Office: Document V2902P028, 1992-07-01
  13. ↑ US Copyright Office: Document V2618P191, 1991-01-25
  14. ↑ IMDB: Company credits for The Pleasure Garden
  15. ↑ IMDB: Company credits for The Pleasure Garden
  16. ↑ BFI Researchers' Guide: Gainsborough Pictures
  17. ↑ Hamon Arts Library: G. William Jones Film and Video Collection
  18. ↑ US Copyright Office, document number V2618P191
  19. ↑ IMDB: Company credits for The Mountain Eagle
  20. ↑ IMDB: Company credits for The Mountain Eagle
  21. ↑ BFI Researchers' Guide: Gainsborough Pictures
  22. ↑ IMDB: Company credits for The Lodger
  23. ↑ IMDB: Company credits for The Lodger
  24. ↑ BFI Researchers' Guide: Gainsborough Pictures
  25. ↑ US Copyright Office: Notices of Intent To Enforce Restored Copyrights (22/Aug/1997)
  26. ↑ IMDB: Company credits for Downhill
  27. ↑ IMDB: Company credits for Downhill
  28. ↑ BFI Researchers' Guide: Gainsborough Pictures
  29. ↑ US Copyright Office: Notices of Intent To Enforce Restored Copyrights (30/Jan/1998)
  30. ↑ IMDB: Company credits for Easy Virtue
  31. ↑ IMDB: Company credits for Easy Virtue
  32. ↑ BFI Researchers' Guide: Gainsborough Pictures
  33. ↑ IMDB: Company credits for The Ring
  34. ↑ IMDB: Company credits for The Ring
  35. ↑ BFI Researchers' Guide: British International Pictures
  36. ↑ US Copyright Office: Notices of Intent To Enforce Restored Copyrights (22/Aug/1997)
  37. ↑ IMDB: Company credits for The Farmer's Wife
  38. ↑ IMDB: Company credits for The Farmer's Wife
  39. ↑ BFI Researchers' Guide: British International Pictures
  40. ↑ IMDB: Company credits for Champagne
  41. ↑ IMDB: Company credits for Champagne
  42. ↑ BFI Researchers' Guide: British International Pictures
  43. ↑ US Copyright Office: Notices of Intent To Enforce Restored Copyrights (22/Aug/1997)
  44. ↑ IMDB: Company credits for The Manxman
  45. ↑ IMDB: Company credits for The Manxman
  46. ↑ BFI Researchers' Guide: British International Pictures
  47. ↑ US Copyright Office: Notices of Intent To Enforce Restored Copyrights (22/Aug/1997)
  48. ↑ IMDB: Company credits for Blackmail
  49. ↑ IMDB: Company credits for Blackmail
  50. ↑ BFI Researchers' Guide: British International Pictures
  51. ↑ US Copyright Office: Notices of Intent To Enforce Restored Copyrights (22/Aug/1997)
  52. ↑ IMDB: Company credits for Juno and the Paycock
  53. ↑ IMDB: Company credits for Juno and the Paycock
  54. ↑ BFI Researchers' Guide: British International Pictures
  55. ↑ US Copyright Office: Notices of Intent To Enforce Restored Copyrights (22/Aug/1997)
  56. ↑ IMDB: Company credits for Murder!
  57. ↑ IMDB: Company credits for Murder!
  58. ↑ BFI Researchers' Guide: British International Pictures
  59. ↑ US Copyright Office: Notices of Intent To Enforce Restored Copyrights (22/Aug/1997)
  60. ↑ IMDB: Company credits for The Skin Game
  61. ↑ IMDB: Company credits for The Skin Game
  62. ↑ BFI Researchers' Guide: British International Pictures
  63. ↑ US Copyright Office: Notices of Intent To Enforce Restored Copyrights (22/Aug/1997)
  64. ↑ IMDB: Company credits for Rich and Strange
  65. ↑ IMDB: Company credits for Rich and Strange
  66. ↑ BFI Researchers' Guide: British International Pictures
  67. ↑ BFI Screenonline
  68. ↑ US Copyright Office: Notices of Intent To Enforce Restored Copyrights (22/Aug/1997)
  69. ↑ IMDB: Company credits for Number Seventeen
  70. ↑ IMDB: Company credits for Number Seventeen
  71. ↑ BFI Researchers' Guide: British International Pictures
  72. ↑ BFI Screenonline
  73. ↑ US Copyright Office: Notices of Intent To Enforce Restored Copyrights (22/Aug/1997)
  74. ↑ IMDB: Company credits for Waltzes from Vienna
  75. ↑ IMDB: Company credits for Waltzes from Vienna
  76. ↑ BFI Researchers' Guide: Gainsborough Pictures
  77. ↑ IMDB: Company credits for The Birds
  78. ↑ IMDB: Company credits for The Birds
  79. ↑ "Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho" by Stephen Robello, page 182
  80. ↑ IMDB: Company credits for The Birds
  81. ↑ IMDB: Company credits for The Birds
  82. ↑ IMDB: Company credits for Marnie
  83. ↑ IMDB: Company credits for Marnie
  84. ↑ IMDB: Company credits for Torn Curtain
  85. ↑ IMDB: Company credits for Torn Curtain
  86. ↑ IMDB: Company credits for Topaz
  87. ↑ IMDB: Company credits for Topaz
  88. ↑ IMDB: Company credits for Frenzy
  89. ↑ IMDB: Company credits for Frenzy
  90. ↑ IMDB: Company credits for Family Plot
  91. ↑ IMDB: Company credits for Family Plot
Retrieved from ‘http://the.hitchcock.zone/w/index.php?title=Copyright_status_of_Hitchcock_films&oldid=195310’