Is Buck Rogers in the public domain? New movie hangs in the balance

Filmmaker says character fell out of copyright. Rightsholders say “pay up.”

David Kravets – Aug 6, 2015 12:50 pm | 156

Cover of Armageddon 2419 A.D. Credit: admiral.ironbombs/flickr

Last month, science fiction fans gave a collective thumbs-up when Team Angry Filmworks announced that it was planning to produce a new Buck Rogers flick—Armageddon 2419 A.D.

The Rogers character, originally known as “Anthony Rogers,” first appeared in the 1928 novella by the same name, Armageddon 2419 A.D. It was penned by science fiction author Philip Francis Nowlan and appeared in the magazine Amazing Stories. And producer Don Murphy, who was behind Natural Born Killers, The Transformers, and other films, seemed dead set on recreating the science fiction spaceman.

But the Dille Family Trust, which owns the rights to the Buck Rogers namesake, claims the potential blockbuster needs to be licensed, according to a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday in Los Angeles. Team Angry Filmworks, on the other hand, contends that the character has fallen out of copyright and is in the public domain, free for anybody to exploit. The Hollywood studio wants a federal judge to declare that the character is in the public domain.

According to the studio’s Los Angeles federal court lawsuit (PDF):

PLAINTIFF alleges, and DEFENDANT denies, that as a matter of law, the Mr. Nowlan’s novella entitled Armageddon 2419 A.D. including the character of ‘Anthony Rogers’ aka ‘Buck Rogers’ first appearing therein, are now in the public domain in the United States and the rest of the world, and accordingly, any member of the public, including PLAINTIFF, has the right in the United States to copy the expression embodied in this public domain work, and to create exploit derivative works based on this public domain work, without infringing any right of DEFENDANT under Copyright, or requiring attribution to DEFENDANT.

The suit alleges that the trust threatened in writing that it was contemplating “legal action” because the “Dille Family Trust has not given permission or license for the use of ‘Buck Rogers’ or any of the elements of the ‘Buck Rogers’ Universe.”

The suit maintains that the character entered the public domain in 1956 and worldwide in 2010. At the time the novella appeared in 1928, copyright was limited to 14 years plus one renewal.

In the original novella, the character Rogers is held in suspended animation for 500 years and awakens to a futuristic Earth and civil war. Deadline Hollywood described that versus the new storyline in Armageddon 2419 A.D.:

Known as the original Buck Rogers story, Armageddon 2419 A.D. was a prescient novel, predicting among other things ray guns, drones, cell phones and night vision goggles. (Jet packs came along later in the series.) As Buck Rogers, the character of Anthony Rogers became a popular staple of the newspaper comics pages. Later on it was a successful film serial, a radio program and in 1979 at the height of Star Wars mania, it became a well-merchandized NBC series starring Gil Gerard that ran for two seasons.

The new film will focus on a future informed by the present and predicts a 2419 based on scientific/technological advances in the 90 years since the novel was originally published. The Rogers character, having lost everyone he loved centuries ago, will be darker and more brooding, a fish out of water who struggles to find a way to fit in with a war-torn world.

Ars contacted the Buck Rogers licensing arm, but they did not immediately respond for comment.