Legal Question in Entertainment Law in Florida

I intend to hire a screenwriter to write screenplay adaptions for two novels in the public domain. One novel was originally published in 1921, the other in 1901. I believe the cut-off publishing date to put a novel into 'public domain' is 1923. My questions are:

1 --- Is there some way to get the movie "rights" to a public domain novel?

2 -- If not, if the novels are in the public domain, and I have no legal contractual "rights" to a screenplay in the public domain, how would I protect the script I paid for? That is, if the novels are in the public domain, and a producer liked the script or the idea of making a film based these novels, what would prevent the Producer from then hiring his own screenwriter to write their version of these public-domain novels and bypass me? I have no legal screenplay option or �rights� to this public-domain book, so I have no control over preventing a producer from just creating his own screenplay adaption.

What would you suggest to give legal protection to a 'public-domain-novel screenplay adaption that I wrote, or paid a screenwriter to write, so a producer could not simply bypass me?

One of the novels is Scaramouche, by Raphael Sabatini. It was published in 1921, two years prior to the public-domain cut-off date of 1923. Does that mean I can assume it is in the public domain so I can adapt it freely to a screenplay? Or, to be sure, would I need to do some kind of copyright search?


Asked on 1/05/14, 6:51 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Brent Rose The Orsini & Rose Law Firm

You are correct that nearly all novels published before 1923 are in the public domain under U.S. law. (It's different in other countries.) You would no more need to license the novel "rights" to a public domain novel than you would to write a script based on the Bible. But a new script based on a pblic domain novel would immediately contain copyright protection. That is, if you write a script today based on, say, the King James Bible, the script immediately gains copyright protections, even though the King James Bible has no copyright protections.

Assuming that you are correct that the 1921 novel Scaramouche has no intellectual property protection (and it looks like you are right), a screenplay could be written based on the novel without needing permission regarding the novel. To protect your script when offering it to producers, you could demand that readers sign non-disclosure agreements, but from my experience, producers will never do this. On the upside though, producers don't often violate intellectual property rights. You can avoid difficulties by copyrighting your script before you send it out.

As an aside, I note that movie adaptations have been made of the novel Scaramouche on at least two occasions, including an award-winning version in 1952 with Janet Leigh. You'll want to make sure you don't run afoul of those copyrights.

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Answered on 1/05/14, 8:30 am


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