Loyola of Los Angeles Entertainment Law Review Volume 10 Number 1 Article 1 1-1-1990 Technological Alterations to Motion Pictures and Other Audiovisual Works: Implications for Creators, Copyright Owners, and Consumers—Report of the Register of Copyrights Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/elr Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation , Technological Alterations to Motion Pictures and Other Audiovisual Works: Implications for Creators, Copyright Owners, and Consumers—Report of the Register of Copyrights, 10 Loy. L.A. Ent. L. Rev. 1 (1989). Available at: https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/elr/vol10/iss1/1 This Other is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Reviews at Digital Commons @ Loyola Marymount University and Loyola Law School. It has been accepted for inclusion in Loyola of Los Angeles Entertainment Law Review by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons@Loyola Marymount University and Loyola Law School. 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REPORT TECHNOLOGICAL ALTERATIONS TO MOTION PICTURES AND OTHER AUDIOVISUAL WORKS: IMPLICATIONS FOR CREATORS, COPYRIGHT OWNERS, AND CONSUMERS Report Of The Register Of Copyrights March 1989 United States Copyright Office Washington, D.C.t TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Sum m ary ............................................ 4 Chapter 1: Introduction ........................................ 11 Scope of the Copyright Office Study .......................... 11 Previous Copyright Office Actions ............................ 14 Issues Examined in this Report ............................... 16 Chapter 2: Copyright In The Motion Picture And Television Industries ...................................................... 18 Copyright Protection for Motion Pictures and Television Program s .................................................... 19 International Conventions .................................... 20 Universal Copyright Convention ............................ 20 The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works .......... ........................... 21 The Nature of Authorship in Motion Pictures ................. 22 Case Law in the United States ............................. 22 Authorship in Motion Pictures Under the 1976 Copyright A ct ....................................................... 22 Berne Convention ............................................ 25 F rance ....................................................... 28 t The Loyola of Los Angeles Entertainment Law Journal has reprinted the text of the Congressional Report substantially as is. Footnotes conform to the standards set forth in A Uniform System of Citation (14th ed. 1987) and were checked for accuracy where possible. 2 LOYOLA ENTERTAINMENT LAW JOURNAL [Vol. 10 Federal Republic of Germany ................................ 29 U nited K ingdom ............................................. 29 The D irectors' Position ....................................... 30 C onclusion ................................................... 32 Chapter 3: Post Exhibition Alterations To Motion Pictures ...... 32 Adoption of Broadcast Standards for Television ............... 34 Letterboxing ................................................. 36 Panning and Scanning ........................................ 37 Effects of Panning and Scanning on the Aesthetics of Theatrical M otion Pictures ................................... 38 Lexiconning ................................................. 40 The Effects of Lexiconning on the Aesthetics of Theatrical M otion Pictures .............................................. 42 Computer Color Encoding .................................... 42 Effect of Colorization on the Aesthetics of Black and White M otion Pictures .............................................. 45 Future Technologies .......................................... 46 Chapter 4: The Impact Of Collective And Individual Bargaining On The Development And Distribution Of Motion Pictures ...... 46 Copyright Ownership and Preparation of the Motion Pictures for Exhibition ................................................ 47 The Directors Guild of America's Basic Agreement ........... 48 The Adequacy of Reliance on Collective and Individual Bargaining for Creative Rights ................................ 51 Chapter 5: M oral Rights ....................................... 54 The Nature of M oral Rights .................................. 55 Moral Rights Under the Berne Convention .................... 55 Moral Rights Under the Copyright Act ....................... 57 M oral Rights in the Case Law ................................ 57 Right to Claim Authorship ................................. 58 M isattribution of Authorship ............................... 60 The Right of Integrity ..................................... 63 State Law s ................................................... 67 California ................................................. 67 Connecticut ............................................... 67 L ouisiana .................................................. 68 M aine ..................................................... 68 M assachusetts ............................................. 69 New Jersey ................................................ 69 N ew Y ork ................................................. 69 Pennsylvania .............................................. 70 1990] REPORT R hode Island .............................................. 70 Federal Legislative Efforts .................................... 70 Early Efforts to Adhere to the Berne Convention ........... 70 The General Revision of the 1909 Copyright Act ........... 72 Post 1976 Copyright Act W.I.P.O. Consultations ........... 72 Visual A rtists Bills ......................................... 73 The Berne Implementing Legislation ........................ 74 Hearings on Berne Implementing Legislation in the Senate ............................................ 75 Hearings in the House ................................... 86 Hearings on H.R. 2400 .................................. 90 Passage of Berne Implementing Legislation ............... 95 The Directors' Claims for Moral Rights ....................... 98 The Producers' Response ..................................... 101 Copyright Office Analysis .................................... 103 C onclusion ................................................... 107 Chapter 6: Film Preservation ................................... 107 Chapter 7: Conclusions ........................................ 112 APPENDICEST Appendix I Robert W. Kastenmeier and Carlos Moorhead letter to Ralph Oman Appendix II ML-356 - Notice of Inquiry - Registration of Claims to Copyright - Notice of Inquiry; Colorization of Motion Pictures ML-366 - Notice of Registration Decision - Copyright Registra- tion for Colorized Versions of Black and White Motion Pictures ML-388 - Request for Information; Notice of Hearing - Request for Information; Notice of Hearing, New Technology and Audiovi- sual Works ML-390 - Final Regulation - Copyright Registration for Colorized Versions of Black and White Motion Pictures: Final Rule Appendix III The Financing of Motion Pictures prepared by Eric Schwartz, Policy Planning Advisor to the Register of Copyrights I Appendices II and III have not been reprinted. They can be found in the Federal Register. LOYOLA ENTER TAINMENT LAW JOURNAL [Vol. 10 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY During the recent, successful effort to adhere to the Berne Conven- tion for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, Congress exten- sively debated the issue of "moral rights" in general, and as applied to the motion picture industry. The term "moral rights" does not refer to a judgment about a work's morality (or lack thereof). Instead, it concerns the personal relationship of the author to his or her work apart from economic rights. In particular, it relates to the author's interest in hav- ing his or her authorship of the work acknowledged ("the right of attri- bution"), and to the author's interest in preventing unauthorized alterations in the work that are prejudicial to his or her reputation ("the right of integrity").' In deciding on the form of implementing legislation for Berne adher- ence, Congress adopted the "minimalist approach;" i.e., to make only those changes absolutely required to join the Convention. After two years of hearings and consultations with foreign experts, Congress reached the conclusion that the totality of existing U.S. law - federal, state statutory, and common law - satisfied our obligations under the Convention to accord moral rights. Accordingly, under the minimalist approach, Congress decided against amending the Copyright Act in the Berne implementing legisla- tion to provide for a single, unified, federal system of moral rights. This decision was not, however, based on hostility to moral rights in general, nor to such rights as applied specifically to the motion picture industry. In fact, both Senate and House subcommittees held hearings on colorization and other alterations to motion pictures during the sec- ond session of the 100th Congress. In addition, on February 25, 1988, Chairman Kastenmeier and Ranking Minority Member Carlos Moor- head of the House Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Administration of Justice 2 requested the Copyright Office to inquire into the present and future uses of technologies such as computer color encoding ("colorization"), panning/scanning, and time compression and expansion ("lexiconning"), and how