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'Buck Rogers' Film In Early Stages Not Ripe for Court
In a copyright battle stemming from a Hollywood production company's attempt to revive the “Buck Rogers” science-fiction franchise, a federal judge in Pennsylvania declined to rule on whether the sci-fi hero's universe is public domain. Team Angry Filmworks Inc. v. Geer, 15-1381.
The Pennsylvania-based trust that licenses “Buck Rogers” intellectual property threatened to sue after Los Angeles-based Team Angry Filmworks announced it was in the process of developing a screenplay based on Armageddon 2419 A.D. ' a 1928 novella by Philip Francis Nowlan in which Buck Rogers made his first appearance ' without the trust's approval.
Team Angry asked U.S. District Chief Judge Joy Flowers Conti of the Western District of Pennsylvania to declare that the copyright to “Buck Rogers” has expired, arguing that the trust's claims over the material amounts to interference with the production company's attempts to make the film by discouraging studios like Warner Brothers or Sony, which have expressed interest in the project, from financing the film.
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Major Differences In UK, U.S. Copyright Laws
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