[NJARC] Orson Welles "War of the Worlds"

[Alex Magoun]

Joe et al.,

 

The War of the Worlds broadcast is probably not in the public domain, and
the script is certainly not.   Because no one appears to be enforcing
copyright on the digital copy online does not it's open season.  When we
staged the script at the David Sarnoff Library we asked and received
permission from the estate of Howard Koch, who wrote it.  Koch's family
would like to see his work remembered and enjoyed and doesn't charge for
non-profit usage, but the lawyer said that if it was going to be broadcast,
there were fees based on the station's audience ratings.  As I wrote Ray
Chase in 2008, Norman Rudman is the attorney representing the Howard Koch
estate:  <mailto:nrudman at mcn.org> nrudman at mcn.org.  (707-877-3335 in Florida
if he doesn't reply within a week)  Keep it short, say that you/the NJARC
would like to continue the DSL's program on behalf of InfoAge, a 501c3 etc.

 

The recording may still be controlled by CBS Radio or whoever CBS sold it
off to.  The easiest source to check with would be RadioSpirits.com, which
tracks down the copyright owners of the OTR shows it remasters for CD and
sells.  RadioSpirits also states that it owns the sublicensing rights for
many of the shows that it licensed:
http://www.radiospirits.com/aboutotr/aboutotr.asp?sid=MTg3MjYwNDY6MTAvNC8yMD
EwIDI6MzQ6MjcgUE0=
<http://www.radiospirits.com/aboutotr/aboutotr.asp?sid=MTg3MjYwNDY6MTAvNC8yM
DEwIDI6MzQ6MjcgUE0=&Svr=.62&l=1&source=&scode=G10CY100>
&Svr=.62&l=1&source=&scode=G10CY100.  

 

Given the club's and InfoAge's nonprofit status, this shouldn't be about
money but about following the law and giving credit where credit is due.
The internet has done a lot of things for us, and one of them is the erosion
of asking permission before using something now on-line.

 

Best, Alex