Investigating copyright
In 2022, we hired one of the nation’s leading copyright search consultants to investigate the copyright registration and renewal histories of both the Faye Emerson and Ziv programs in the WCFTR’s collection.
We knew in advance that both programs had been syndicated, which is important for establishing that they had indeed been “published” (thus avoiding the thornier copyright ground of kinescoped live television programs that were not distributed beyond their initial broadcast). WCFTR director Eric Hoyt also had extensive experience in navigating copyright restrictions due to his decades-long work with the Media History Digital Library (MHDL), a free online database of books and magazines related to the histories of film, broadcasting, and recorded sound. You can read more about the MHDL’s rights and reuse policies here.
The resulting report on the Faye Emerson and Ziv programs encouraged our goals to extend access to the collections. It also revealed quite a bit about the perceived value of the television programs that most intrigued us today.
As we learned, the original creators of the programs did not pursue copyright registrations. This is most likely because the producers did not foresee long-term commercial value in programs that were live and topical (Emerson’s shows) or so short-lived they could not be profitably licensed for syndication (Ziv’s World of Giants).
The research value and contemporary relevance of these programs is clear, however, and the lack of copyright protection has enabled us to extend their reach online, as you are experiencing here!