P.M. BRIEFING : Bill to Curb Film Colorization Urged

The Copyright Office today recommended that Congress consider legislation protecting makers of future films from unauthorized colorization of their work.

The Copyright Office urged a subcommittee to consider, before anything else, a unified package of legislation covering not only film artists, but also visual artists, such as painters and sculptors. Such legislation would give them “moral rights” to bar alteration of their work, such as colorization of films. The Copyright Office also said it could support a decision to enact artists’ rights legislation for film makers alone, if the subcommittee chose to do this.