Literary Adaptation rights - please help.

Started by SubstanceD, February 20, 2003, 01:13:29 AM

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SubstanceD

I was wondering what the deal is if you were trying to adapt a film version of a classic (I.E. Shakespeare or Nathaniel Hawthrone). Do you need permission or are these stories public domain. I remember hearing something about statutes of Limitations, but I wonder about this. I mean, the coen brothers gave homer credit for O Brother Where art though, but I doubt they had to pay for the rights. Does anyone know about the legalities of these things?
Stubborn as a thousand born agains avoiding questions.

Raikus

Normal copyright law applies. The work, if published before 1978 is copyrighted for 95 from the time it was copyrighted. If after 1978, it's the author's life plus 70 years.

The Coen Brothers credited Homer as a tribute. They weren't under any obligation to do so.
Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free, silhouetted by the sea, circled by the circus sands, with all memory and fate driven deep beneath the waves, let me forget about today until tomorrow.

SubstanceD

So would I or wouldn't I need the rights to A work by an author such as Nathaniel hawthorne or Shakespeare. These guys have been dead for awhile now.
Stubborn as a thousand born agains avoiding questions.

SubstanceD

About the Homer thing, The movie was a loose adaptation so couldn't they have been sued, or are their no restrictions on material this old
Stubborn as a thousand born agains avoiding questions.

Raikus

QuoteSo would I or wouldn't I need the rights to A work by an author such as Nathaniel hawthorne or Shakespeare. These guys have been dead for awhile now.

Yes, their works would be fine to use.
Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free, silhouetted by the sea, circled by the circus sands, with all memory and fate driven deep beneath the waves, let me forget about today until tomorrow.

Jeremy Blackman

Quote from: Raikus
QuoteSo would I or wouldn't I need the rights to A work by an author such as Nathaniel hawthorne or Shakespeare. These guys have been dead for awhile now.

Yes, their works would be fine to use.

Oooo.. Hawthorne would be great to work from. It would be so much fun to adapt The Blithedale Romance into something even more insane.