Bit Parts

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit decided that the heirs of Maurice Richlin, the co-writer of the unpublished 1962 treatment that formed the basis for the 1963 'Pink Panther' movies, didn't own the copyright renewal rights to the treatment or to derivative works, including the motion picture. Richlin v. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc., 06-55307. Richlin and treatment co-author Blake Edwards also wrote the screenplay for the 1963 movie as a work-for-hire. The appeals court found: 'Richlin failed to secure federal statutory copyright protection for the Treatment. Therefore, the Treatment as such was never invested with statutory copyright, and a right to renew the original term of statutory copyright neither vested in Richlin nor reverted to his heirs. Because Richlin neither co-owned nor coauthored the Motion Picture, neither he nor his heirs have any interest in its copyright.'