Journal of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers (1930-1949)

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346 McCoy AND WARNER October establishment of a common-law copyright. This common-law copyright is the exclusive property of the station and network and the former may prohibit the co-operative group of television theaters from retelecasting such programs. Common-law copyright is illustrated by the litigation arising out of the Louis-Walcott fight. A Pennsylvania court enjoined a motion picture exhibitor 'from picking up and retelecasting the Louis-Walcott fight in his theater, because of the common-law copyright in the telecast which was the property of the sponsor, network, and station. A television station or network can protect its programs by copyrighting the same. The copyright of a dramatic program prohibits the reproduction of the same unless a license is obtained from the copyright proprietor. The unauthorized exhibition of a copyrighted program would subject each exhibitor to minimum statutory damages of $250 for each unauthorized telecast. Thus, the co-operative group of television theaters would be precluded from using the program material of a television broadcast station or network, unless the latter consented. A television network might find it economically feasible to make its commercial or sustaining program service available in theaters for a stipulated fee. On the other hand and as will be subsequently developed, theater television may be a competitive threat to television broadcasting and the television network may refuse to make its program service available to theaters. This means that the latter must obtain its own programs. This raises the next question : what independent programs are available to the theater television group? An excellent source of programming would be local or national news. Since a news event, i.e., a political address, parade, or fire, is a public event, any organization may transmit its own version of the event to the public via television broadcasting or to theaters by theater television. All that is required to carry a news program is a mobile unit to transmit the program to the central distribution point, for redistribution to the theaters. If co-operative theater groups are interconnected on a national scale, outstanding national events such as a presidential inauguration could be made available to all theaters. A second source of programming is sports events. Thus, boxing bouts and baseball and football games could be brought into the theater. The use of sports events in theater television tenders certain economic and legal issues which warrant discussion. Not only are the television broadcast rights to an athletic contest