<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><br></div><div><div><div>On Jun 7, 2009, at 12:41 PM, <a href="mailto:COURYHOUSE@aol.com">COURYHOUSE@aol.com</a> wrote:</div><blockquote type="cite"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial; font-size: 11px; "><div><font size="2" ptsize="10">Yep all True Ted ..... Good points... I ran into the King issue when was doing a news story and the only resource turned out to be the King site</font></div><div> </div><div><font size="2" ptsize="10">Ted, Historically do you remember when the King issue became this restrictive?</font></div><div><font size="2" ptsize="10"> </font></div><font size="2" ptsize="10"><div>Ed the newsman </div></font></span></blockquote></div></div><div><br></div><div>When the King estate decided to make it so.</div><div><br></div><div>And the case turns on the same kind of copyright protection that movies and broadcasts can claim protection under, and that is "Publication."</div><div><br></div><div><div>Showing a movie in a theater is not "publication" because the audience can't take copies of the work (the movie) home with them. Selling a tape or DVD of the same move to the general public, IS publication.</div><div><br></div></div><div><div>For the short version, see this Wikipedia entry. (See citations mentioned, if any... for vetting of accuracy.)</div><div><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estate_of_Martin_Luther_King,_Jr.,_Inc._v._CBS,_Inc">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estate_of_Martin_Luther_King,_Jr.,_Inc._v._CBS,_Inc</a>.</div><div><br></div></div><div>The substance is: A federal court ruled King's "I have a Dream" speech was a "Performance" of an <i>unpublished</i> work, and as such was coverable by copyright since the recitation did not constitute publication. </div><div><br></div><div>King shortly afterward registered the speech with the Copyright office. (Not clear whether this was the "as written" or "as delivered" version, since King ad-libbed some content.)</div><div><br></div><div>Years later, CBS produced a documentary series for A&E, "The 20th Century" with Mike Wallace. One segment on "Dr. King and the March on Washington" contained CBS archive material of the speech, and used about 60 percent of the total speech King delivered, without asking for permission to use the material.</div><div><br></div><div>The Estate sued in Federal court. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-size: 13px; font-style: italic; ">Estate of Martin Luther King, Jr., Inc. v. CBS, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><i>Inc., </i>13 F.Supp.2d 1347 (N.D.Ga.1998)</span></span></div><div><br></div><div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal Times; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">The district court granted summary judgment to CBS on the ground that Dr. King had engaged in a general</span></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal Times; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Helvetica" size="4"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">publication of the speech, placing it into the public domain.</span></font></div></div><div><br></div><div>The King Estate appealed the Summary Judgment, and with one judge of three dissenting, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the judgement and sent the case back to the lower court for trial:</div><div><a href="http://www.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/ops/19989079.MAN.pdf">http://www.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/ops/19989079.MAN.pdf</a></div><div><br></div><div>Chief Judge Anderson wrote:</div><div><br></div><div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal Times; font-size: 15px; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal Times; font-size: 15px; ">Because there exist genuine issues of material fact as to whether a general publication occurred, we</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal Times; font-size: 15px; ">must reverse the district court's grant of summary judgment for CBS. It would be inappropriate for us to</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal Times; font-size: 15px; ">address CBS's other arguments, e.g., fair use and the First Amendment, because the district court did not</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal Times; font-size: 15px; ">address them, and because the relevant facts may not yet be fully developed. Of course, we express no</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal Times; font-size: 15px; ">opinion on the eventual merits of this litigation. The judgment of the district court is reversed and remanded</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal Times; font-size: 15px; ">for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.</div></div></div><div><br></div><div>Senior District Judge Cook noted in his concurrence footnotes that in other cases:</div><div><br></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-size: 13px; "><span style="font: normal normal normal 6.5px/normal Times; font-size: 11px; ">11</span>The court determined that CBS had a copyright over radio broadcasts of "The Amos 'n' Andy Show"</span></div><div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal Times; font-size: 13px; ">from 1928 to 1948 because the " 'rendering of the performance before the microphone cannot be held to be</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal Times; font-size: 13px; ">an abandonment of ownership to it by the proprietor or a dedication of it to the public at large,' " quoting</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal Times; font-size: 13px; "><i>Uproar Co. v. NBC, </i>8 F.Supp. 358, 362 (D.Mass.1934), <i>modified </i>81 F.2d 373 (1st Cir.1936).</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal Times; font-size: 13px; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="1" style="font-size: 11px; "><br></font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal Times; font-size: 13px; "><span style="font: normal normal normal 6.5px/normal Times; font-size: 11px; ">12</span>The court determined that CBS had a copyright over a radio broadcaster's news announcement</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal Times; font-size: 13px; ">concerning President Kennedy's assassination.</div></div><div><br></div><div><div>It makes interesting reading, and illuminates some of the mines one can tread on when posting material to YouTube or elsewhere.</div></div><div><br></div><div>Joseph Beck, the attorney who represented the King estate in the suit against CBS spoke about the case rather extensively in an address that shows up as an article in Media Law and Policy Volume X, Number 2:</div><div><a href="http://www.nyls.edu/user_files/1/3/4/30/84/88/10MLP3spring1.pdf">http://www.nyls.edu/user_files/1/3/4/30/84/88/10MLP3spring1.pdf</a></div><div><br></div><div>(He cites as a witness in another case a "Professor of Parody" at Emory College in Atlanta, GA. Sounds like a degree I should go for.) </div><div><br></div><div>Meantime, two of Dr. King's surviving kids are suing the other who is in charge of the King Center and their parents' intellectual property over a biography of Coretta Scott King and an "authorized" Stephen Spielberg movie about MLK, Jr.</div><div><br></div><div>The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has a raft of stories about that, and the license fees for use of Kings words and image paid by the group planning a Washington D.C. memorial to King.</div><div><br></div><div><a href="http://projects.ajc.com/search/?term=Martin+Luther+King+famil&x=0&y=0">http://projects.ajc.com/search/?term=Martin+Luther+King+famil&x=0&y=0</a></div><div><br></div><div>Maybe more than you wanted to know... but to paraphrase the title of a vintage television show (shot on film, as I recall)... "You... Asked For It!"</div><div><br></div><div>Ted</div><div><div><br></div></div><div apple-content-edited="true"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; ">Ted Langdell</span></font></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; ">Secretary</span></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; ">Skype: <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; "> </span>TedLangdell</span></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; ">e-mail:<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; "> </span><a href="mailto:ted@quadvideotapegroup.com">ted@quadvideotapegroup.com</a></span></font></div></span></div></span></div></span></div></span> </div><br></body></html>