Legal Question in Entertainment Law in California
Fims rights
I work for a small theater, and in addition to our normal projection system we have a digital projector that is hooked up to a dvd player. What types of copy right/ royalty rights and such do we need to acquire in order to start showing dvds on our screen? And is there a time in which these expire for older movies?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Films rights
You need permission from the rights holder to "publicly perform" a copyrighted work. Merely buying a DVD does not give you this right.
Re: Fims rights
You will need to negotiate directly with the owner or distributor of each film you plan to show at your theatre.
Copyright protection covers works for as much as 120 years..
Older films may be in the public domain, but you need to research the rights for each film... there's no real "rule of thumb" since copyright law has changed over the years, extending the protection longer and longer each time.
Best bet is to hire a theatre lawyer (like me) to help you with these negotiations.
Gordon Firemark
theatrelawyer DOT com
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