Post by Clouseau on Jun 19, 2008 20:21:42 GMT
cbs5.com/localwire/22.0.html?type=bcn&item=PINK-PANTHER-COPYRIGHT
SF: APPEALS COURT REJECTS COPYRIGHT CLAIMS TO PINK PANTHER STORY
June 19, 2008
A federal appeals court in San Francisco today rejected copyright claims by the heirs of a Los Angeles screenwriter who helped to create the original story of "The Pink Panther" comedy film.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said that screenwriter Maurice Richlin sold his interest in the story to a movie company in 1962 and did not maintain a federal copyright on the material.
The story eventually became a popular series of 10 films featuring a bumbling French police detective named Inspector Jacques Clouseau. Peter Sellers played the inspector in the first film and in several others.
The heirs sought to sue Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc., the successor to the original company that bought the rights. They appealed after a federal judge in Los Angeles ruled against them.
Circuit Judge Kim Wardlaw wrote in today's ruling, "While Inspector Clouseau searched for the answer to the question, 'Who did it?', we must search for the answer to the question, 'Who owns it?'"
Wardlaw, writing for a unanimous three-judge panel, said that while the heirs raised several arguments, "they have not quite stumbled on a theory that favors them."
The court noted that Richlin and his co-author, Blake Edwards, sold the rights to the story to the Mirisch Corp. in 1962 for $150,000 and agreed that Mirisch was entitled to the copyright.
June 19, 2008
A federal appeals court in San Francisco today rejected copyright claims by the heirs of a Los Angeles screenwriter who helped to create the original story of "The Pink Panther" comedy film.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said that screenwriter Maurice Richlin sold his interest in the story to a movie company in 1962 and did not maintain a federal copyright on the material.
The story eventually became a popular series of 10 films featuring a bumbling French police detective named Inspector Jacques Clouseau. Peter Sellers played the inspector in the first film and in several others.
The heirs sought to sue Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc., the successor to the original company that bought the rights. They appealed after a federal judge in Los Angeles ruled against them.
Circuit Judge Kim Wardlaw wrote in today's ruling, "While Inspector Clouseau searched for the answer to the question, 'Who did it?', we must search for the answer to the question, 'Who owns it?'"
Wardlaw, writing for a unanimous three-judge panel, said that while the heirs raised several arguments, "they have not quite stumbled on a theory that favors them."
The court noted that Richlin and his co-author, Blake Edwards, sold the rights to the story to the Mirisch Corp. in 1962 for $150,000 and agreed that Mirisch was entitled to the copyright.
