Part Of Civil Rights Documentary Finally Coming Out On DVD After Years Of Copyright Battling: "Back in 1988 and 1990, PBS aired the two parts of the seminal documentary
Eyes on the Prize about the civil rights movement. Since then, it's been considered one of the best ways of explaining and showing the civil rights struggle to those who did not live through it. Yet, it soon went out of print, and for years there have been fights to get it released on DVD. The problem? You guessed it: copyright. When the original documentary makers made the film they were only able to secure limited licenses for the archival footage they used, and once those licenses expired, the film was effectively dead in the water. For obvious reasons, this greatly upset some people, who started
encouraging people to download copies of the film to get it seen -- even if this did
upset others who were (loosely) associated with the film, fearing that it would hurt the ongoing negotiations for eventual licensing.
While it's taken a long, long time, the good news is that
part I of the documentary has finally been released on DVD, even though part II is still tied up in licensing problems. While I can understand why some have been upset in linking the issue of civil rights with copyfighting, this seemed like a perfect example of the problems of copyright law today. Allowing this DVD to go forward would, in no way, 'harm' the market for the original archival footage. It was a way to get it much more attention -- on an incredibly important topic that has deserved much greater awareness. To have all that content mostly locked up for nearly two decades is a real shame, and speaks to the censoring power of copyright law.
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