8mm Forum: Eastin-Phelan Corp. v. Hal Roach Studios, Inc. (1972)

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Topic: Eastin-Phelan Corp. v. Hal Roach Studios, Inc. (1972)

Steve Klare
Film Guy

Posts: 7016
From: Long Island, NY, USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted February 01, 2014 07:36 PM

Here's an interesting one. Apparently back in the day our friends at Blackhawk were selling prints to a chain of restaurants, who were in turn advertizing the movies to draw in paying customers.

Fairly often here we talk about licensing and what constitutes "Non Theatrical".

Here's how its' defined in this case:

quote:
"It is understood that the rights granted hereunder are limited to home and nontheatrical use. . . . "`Nontheatrical' as used herein is defined as exhibitions on substandard dimension motion picture film only and outside of regularly established motion picture theatres, and not in commercial competition therewith. It is understood that showings in schools, churches, clubs, lodges, supermarkets, night clubs, restaurants, taverns, hospitals, homes, orphanages and such institutions as well as by industry are considered noncompetitive with established theatres."

So I'd say the next time I go to show a film to the Scouts or the Sunday School, I'll be OK.

Roach Vs. Blackhawk (Film at 11!!!...or maybe NOT!!)

[ February 01, 2014, 09:31 PM: Message edited by: Steve Klare ]

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All I ask is a wide screen and a projector to light her by...

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Maurice Leakey
Film God

Posts: 5895
From: Bristol. United Kingdom
Registered: Oct 2007

posted February 01, 2014 11:27 PM

In my Film Society days non-theatrical was defined as an exhibition where an admission fee was not charged.

If the audience paid to see the film it was a public exhibition and a completely different set of rules applied.

"Free Loan" films from the libraries of Shell Petroleum, British Transport Films and the National Coal Board (among many others) could only be supplied for exhibition to a non fee paying audience.

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Maurice

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Marshall Crist
Master Film Handler

Posts: 300
From: San Pedro, CA USA
Registered: Oct 2008

posted February 02, 2014 12:34 AM

Good old Shakey's. They were still running 16mm prints of Little Rascals shorts in their restaurants well into the late '70s.

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 525
From: Dallas, TX, USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted February 02, 2014 12:55 AM

When I went to one running 16mm, they had Three Stooges on the screen. What bugged me though was that it was rear screen projection and the image was backwards. Not such a big deal when the show was playing, but the titles and anything with text on it was a huge distraction. Cool pizza place though.

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David Ollerearnshaw
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1373
From: Penistone Sheffield UK
Registered: Oct 2012

posted February 02, 2014 05:59 AM

I take it Blackhawk won

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I love the smell of film in the morning.

http://www.thereelimage.co.uk/

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Steve Klare
Film Guy

Posts: 7016
From: Long Island, NY, USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted February 02, 2014 08:19 AM

I'm not completely sure!

Somewhere in all the lawyereese I'm getting that Roach was trying to force Blackhawk to stop the pizzeria from showing the films, so Blackhawk petitioned the court to issue an injunction against Roach so they would stop stopping Blackhawk from allowing the pizzeria to show the Blackhawk prints of the Roach films. The court failed to find a basis to issue an injunction so basically they didn't do anything.

All of which doesn't mean they didn't work the whole thing out over coffee later on that week.

Apparently the big issues for Roach were that the exhibitions were public and advertised.

Even though there was no direct admission charge, they were doing it to drum up food sales, so it wasn't exactly "non commercial" either.

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All I ask is a wide screen and a projector to light her by...

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Douglas Meltzer
Moderator

Posts: 4554
From: New York, NY, USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted February 02, 2014 03:07 PM

There was a McDonald's in NY that ran super 8 in the late 1970's. I remember seeing Columbia's "Battle with Talos" in B&W.

Doug

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I think there's room for just one more film.....

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Paul Mason
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 540
From: Aldershot, Hampshire, UK
Registered: Nov 2013

posted February 03, 2014 03:22 AM

Here in the UK distributors of DVDs prefer to limit the use of their products to home use apparently meaning small audiences of family and friends where no admission charge is made. This excludes oil rigs, prisons, hospitals etc. I suspect this is not strictly enforced because the movie companies concentrate on internet downloads and copying.

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Paul.

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