Copyright, Fair Use and Motion Pictures

The Edison court also demonstrated another kind of truth about motion pictures: that from its inception the new medium was a radically appropriative one. Whether or not one believes the self-serving and ultimately unavailing representation of the defendant, Sigmund "Pop" Lubin, that he was unaware of the Edison copyright is not the pointS then, as now, the movies thrived on their ability to capture and repurpose existing material, much of it subject to prior claims of copyright protection.