The law of motion pictures (1918)

WHERE BASED UPON AN ORIGINAL SCENARIO 19 Section 4. — Where the motion picture is based upon an original scenario, that is one not based upon any other work. Whether or not a scenario of a motion picture play may be the subject of copyright as an unpublished dramatic composition, is an open question. The Register of Copyrights has taken the position that Section eleven of the Copyright Act requires the deposit of “one complete copy of such work if it be a dramatic composition,” and that a scenario is not a completed work and hence does not fulfill the requirements of that section. In this respect we believe that he is wrong. To our mind a scenario is a completed work in that it is an exact reproduction, in words, of action upon the screen. It embodies within itself the orderly arrangement and development of a theme that enables actors to reproduce the same before the camera. In that respect it is similar to a play, which is primarily a vehicle to enable actors to portray the same upon the stage. Both the scenario and the play have as their primary object the attainment of this end. And the fact that in the play we have dialogue should not alter the situation. The scenario frequently has what the play lacks — minute directions as to acting. And while it is doubtless true that mere stage directions and stage business are not entitled to protection under the Copyright Law,25 yet where the composition tells a a presumption that the magazine proprietor acts as agent for the owner of the work in securing copyright. See: Pulte v. Derby (1852), 5 McLean, 328; Belford v. Scribner (1892), 144 U. S. 488; 12 Sup. Ct. 734. 25 Serrena v. Jefferson (1888), 33 Fed. (C. C.) 347; Bloom v. Nixon (1903), 125 Fed. (C. C.)