H.G. WELLS AND COPYRIGHT

[Charles]

Dear All,

In response to the confusion over copyright as it pertains to H.G. Wells, I thought I'd point everyone to the HGW Society's webpage that deals with the subject directly.

hgwellsusa.50megs.com/UK/hgwcopy.html

Best,
Charles

[maniacs]

The question is, as usual, who owns what copyright and exactly what are thr rights to said owners.

Euro laws state that most of Wells work(or all) is not yet in the public domain.

[King Julien]

i was wondering. who does all the money that HG Wells" Books or whatever else go to?

[EvilNerfherder]

Whoever owns the copyright, basically. In the States, I guess it would go to anyone who publishes it, I suppose, as the book is in the public domain there.
Movie rights are Paramounts and Jeff Wayne also has rights for merchandise and so on. It's a complicated issue but I believe it's something like that.

[Charles]

No one owns the “Worlds” copyright in the US (or certain other areas - see the Society website for a list). Paramount and Wayne have exclusive rights to movies and dramatic versions wherever the novel remains in copyright…which means Blighty, the EU and a few other territories. This is why Pendragon never managed to get their movie released ‘over there’ and Asylum changed the name of their revision before releasing it abroad.

Literary rights and royalties are processed on behalf of the Wells estate through A.P. Watt. Dramatic rights are administered by Casarotto Company Ltd.

[King Julien]

oh. ok. thanks for the info

[maniacs]

Copyright use to state 50 years after the death of the author the subject became public property. Therefore paramount and jeff wayne should own sweet nothing. However thanks to Brussels corrupt, unelectable government in Britain this has been extended to 75 years!!!!

[RustiSwordz]

It expires in 2016 then Wayne spielberg and Hinds should be given cyanide capsules for when they get depressed that their cash cow aint that no more...

[Killraven]

holgerdanske said:

This is why Pendragon never managed to get their movie released ‘over there’

Surely you mean 'over here'...? ;D

[Chris Oakley]

I'm still confused to the film rights. Do Paramount claim to own the film rights all over the world?

What if someone in Britain wanted to make a film using original Fighting Machines and an original score?

[jeffwaynefan]

Paramount Pictures bought and own the film rights, meaning that no one can make and release a film titled The War Of The Worlds without obtaining written permission from Paramount Pictures - even Jeff Wayne had to obtain permission for his film version.

Jeff Wayne owns the rights to a musical version and merchandising of The War Of The Worlds. So again, no one can release anything that sounds like his music or looks like his machines. JW also owns the copyrights to the book in the UK and a few other countries (except the U.S) were it is in the public domain.

I will be glad when the copyright does run out, we may get what we want in the end.

[EvilNerfherder]

On the other hand, when this came up once before (which it has many times) Charles (who, as you may know, is involved in the HG Wells Society) had this to say...

''Actually, anyone can make a version of Wells’ novels like “The War of the Worlds,” film or otherwise, and distribute it wherever the novel is public domain. This is why Pendragon and Asylum were able to release their films in America titled “The War of the Worlds” (or a derivative thereof), but Asylum changed the name to “Invasion” for territories under copyright.

Hallmark wanted worldwide televisual rights which would have crossed several territories where the novel remains in copyright. Hallmark and the Wells estate, specifically H.G.’s grandson Martin, battled Paramount in New York County Supreme Court for said televisual rights in 2002 and lost. Surprise, surprise.

Liberation Day for all of Wells’ novels currently under copyright is 1 January 2017.''

We can't seem to settle on a definitive answer to this question.

[Lensman]

nerfherder said:

Hallmark wanted worldwide televisual rights which would have crossed several territories where the novel remains in copyright. Hallmark and the Wells estate, specifically H.G.’s grandson Martin, battled Paramount in New York County Supreme Court for said televisual rights in 2002 and lost. Surprise, surprise.

Nerfherder, thank you *so* much for explaining that! That makes sense. I never could reconcile the Hallmark decision with what Charles said about the copyright having lapsed here in the U.S. If they were trying for worldwide rights, then no wonder they lost the court case! Hallmark's lawyers must be idiots.

[FALLINGSTAR]

I'm glad Hallmark didn't get to make it as most of their stuff is rubbish. Mind you, could it have been any worse than most of the stuff we've had instead!

[EvilNerfherder]

Actually, Lensman, I just remembered what Charles had said some time ago, with regard to WotW in movies and television, in another post and dug it out so it could be added to the mix. So I can't take the credit for that.

[Charles]

jeffwaynefan said:

JW also owns the copyrights to the book in the UK and a few other countries (except the U.S) were it is in the public domain.

This is incorrect. The Estate of H.G. Wells maintains copyright to the novel wherever certain copyright laws are still in force.

Jeff Wayne will have obtained permission from Paramount to release his film in copyright protected territories, and Paramount obtained permission from Jeff Wayne for merchandising and product tie-ins in the same territories. In short, there has been lots of corporate back scratching going on... Funny how things work out sometimes, innit?

Though the remaining copyright to The War of the Worlds novel expires in less than 11 years, the individual copyrights on Wayne's musical and Paramount's film will remain in force according to a different set of copyright rules that will have no impact on the freedom of people to interpret this and several other H.G. Wells works in different ways.

[jeffwaynefan]

holgerdanske said:

jeffwaynefan said:

JW also owns the copyrights to the book in the UK and a few other countries (except the U.S) were it is in the public domain.

This is incorrect. The Estate of H.G. Wells maintains copyright to the novel wherever certain copyright laws are still in force.

Jeff Wayne will have obtained permission from Paramount to release his film in copyright protected territories, and Paramount obtained permission from Jeff Wayne for merchandising and product tie-ins in the same territories. In short, there has been lots of corporate back scratching going on... Funny how things work out sometimes, innit?

Though the remaining copyright to The War of the Worlds novel expires in less than 11 years, the individual copyrights on Wayne's musical and Paramount's film will remain in force according to a different set of copyright rules that will have no impact on the freedom of people to interpret this and several other H.G. Wells works in different ways.

Yes, I already know this, but I do stand corrected on the book, though this copyright issue is just getting so tedious now.

[Marztok]

I would just like to correct an error in the many statements made above: It is not possible to copyright titles. The copyright applies to CONTENT only. Therefore anybody anywhere can write a book or song or produce a movie called "The war of the worlds" so long as the storyline is not that of Wells's classic story (where the story remains copyrighted).

AND, copyright ALSO applies to derived stories. For example, if someone writes or makes a movie based on characters and general plot in a Wells story where that story is still protected by copyright, there is some copyright infringement. (sometimes difficult to prove...)

It follows that if someone makes a movie based on a Wells story (such as The War of the Worlds) and thinks that by changing the title, they are no longer infringing on copyright, they are very much mistaken.

This also means that sequels (as novels or movies) also can infringe on copyright. However, the Wells estate has generally turned a blind eye to such practices.

Getting back to the question of copyright and titles: The issue between Jeff Wayne and Paramount did not have to do with "The War of the Worlds" as a title but with the similarly named trademark. In other words, the use of the phrase "The War of the Worlds" in merchandising.

[Lensman]

It's so rare to read a well-informed Internet post concerning copyright. Thanks Marztok!

Do you know for a fact that the name "War of the Worlds" is trademarked or is that just a guess on your part? (As Marztok noted, titles cannot be copyrighted, but they can be trademarked.)

[potatoprince]

I`m sure I remember reading somewhere that Jeff Wayne has copyright of the "The" in TWOTW.. said when Paramount made the Tom Cruise movie, they were only allowed to call it WOTW as Jeff owned the "The"