For more than a decade, "Eyes on the Prize," the award-winning 14-hour PBS documentary about the Civil Rights Movement has been locked away in vaults unavailable for purchase or screening due to copyright technicalities. Produced by Blackside with the help of Movement veterans this was without question the best and most vivid film on the Movement ever made. Schools, churches, libraries, and community organizations have used it for decades as essential material for teaching about the Movement.
But the old VHS video-tape copies are wearing out and new copies cannot be legally purchased, nor has a DVD version ever been released, because the copyright owners of the archival news footage and songs used in "Eyes" are demanding to be paid again for renewal of the permissions they were already paid for the first time. Even the "owners" of the song "Happy Birthday" are demanding more money because of a clip of children singing that song to Dr. King.
When a Virginia high-school teacher wanted to show the film to his students during Black History Month, copyright lawyers prevented him by threatening to sue the school.
On February 8, the organization "Downhill Battle" is organizing nation-wide home screenings of the first episode of "Eyes" to protest this outrageous perversion of copyright principles.
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Last Modified: February 4, 2005.
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