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03C copyright as a property right

What the Courts Ruled

 

Columbia Pictures Corporation vs National Broadcasting Co.

USDC, S.D. Calif., Central Div. (12-9-1955) ¤ 137 F.Supp. 348, 107 USPQ 344

The Judge ruled that Sid Caesar’s TV parody of the Columbia movie From Here to Eternity did not appropriate much, and thus was not an infringement.  However, the Judge did warn that greater appropriation could be regarded as destructive to authors’ property rights and therefore constitute infringement:

“The defense, ‘I only burlesqued’ the copyrighted material is not per se a defense.  To hold otherwise would seriously jeopardize right of property in copyrights and investments in such works, and would ultimately seriously damage the prices to be paid to authors for their literary works.”


 

Cases Summarized in Other Sections

Relevant other cases are under parody.

 

 

 

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