#reptisaurus

Cover Date: June 1962 - Storylines: Reptisaurus And The People’s Dragon

For your edification (and reposted from r/publicdomain on Reddit - Sorry, this is a long one!):

Gorgo, like King Kong, is a character who actually first appears in a tie-in novel published well before the actual movie's release. In this case, the novel was written by Bruce Cassiday (writing under the pen name Carson Bingham) and published by Monarch Books in 1960. You can find the copyright registration for the novel in the 1960 Catalog of Copyright Entries for Books and Pamphlets on Page 1148:

Gorgo, by Carson Bingham, pseud. Based on an original story by Eugene Lourie, screenplay by John Loring & David Hyatt. Monarch Books. Monarch books, MM603) (Monarch movie book) © King Bros. Productions; 11Ju160; A453958.

Interestingly, I checked both the 1960 and 1961 Catalogs but COULDN'T find a registration for the actual movie Gorgo (1961), however I'm pretty certain the movie itself had a proper copyright notice listed on it. I also searched the Catalogs for Periodicals and could not find any copyright registrations for any of the Charlton Comics Gorgo issues.

All of these would have needed to be renewed in the late 1980s or early 1990s, with the most important ones - the June 1960 novel and the 1961 movie - needing to be renewed in 1988 and 1989 respectively. This requires moving over to the post-1978 digital catalog, which is actually searchable. Searching for Gorgo and sorting by date brings up only TWO entries...BOTH for the movie:

Type of Work: Motion Picture Registration Number / Date: PA0000142974 / 1982-06-18 Title: Gorgo / producer, Wilfred Eades ; directed by Eugene Lourie. Imprint: sd., col. ; Publisher Number: 3 film reels (ca. 80 min.) : 16 mm Copyright Claimant: King Brothers, Ltd. Copyright Notice: notice: King Brothers Productions, Ltd. Date of Creation: 1960 Date of Publication: 1961-02-10 Date in Notice: notice: 1960 Authorship on Application: King Brothers Productions, Ltd., employer for hire. Copyright Note: C.O. correspondence. Names: Eades, Wilfred Lourie, Eugene King Brothers Productions, Ltd. King Brothers, Ltd.

And the renewal:

Type of Work: Motion Picture Registration Number / Date: RE0000393467 / 1988-09-11 Renewal registration for: PA0000142974 / 1961-02-10 (in notice: 1960) Title: Gorgo. By King Brothers Productions, Ltd. Copyright Claimant: King Brothers, Ltd. (PWH) Copyright Note: C.O. correspondence. Variant title: Gorgo Names: King Brothers Productions, Ltd. King Brothers, Ltd.

Note how both of these state that they for the movie and date publication as 1961, NOT the novel published in 1960. Also note how the registration number does not match the novel's registration number either.

I can find NO other renewals. Not for the novel, not for any of the comics.

The 1960 novel Gorgo by Bruce Cassiday (writing as Carson Bingham) IS Public Domain. The copyright expired due to non-renewal in 1988.

The 1961 movie Gorgo by Eugene Lourie and released by King Brothers Productions is NOT Public domain. The copyright will expire on January 1, 2057.

All issues of the comic book series Gorgo published by Charlton Comics IS Public Domain. The copyrights expired between 1988 and 1991 due to non-renewal, just BARELY missing the cut off for automatic renewal.

It's a very similar situation with Konga. The tie-in novel by Dudley Dean McGaughey (writing under the pen name "Dean Owen") was published by Monarch Books in 1960. You can find the copyright registration for the novel in the 1960 Catalog of Copyright Entries for Books and Pamphlets on Page 1128:

Konga, by Dean Owen, pseud. Based on an original story and screenplay by Aben Kandel & Herman Cohen. Monarch Books. (Monarch books, MM604) (A Monarch movie book) © Alta Vista Productions, Inc.; 8Aug60; A462440.

There are no registrations filed for the movie or comic books that I can find in the 1960, 1961, or 1962 catalogs.

The movie was released in March 1961 (only a few days apart in the US and UK), seven months after the book.

There were actually three renewals registered for the movie (RE0000443112 and RE0000423860, for LP0000021144, and RE0000412919 for PA0000377525), but none for the novel or comic book.

So, just like Gorgo, the 1960 novel Konga by Dudley Dean McGaughey (writing as Dean Owen) and the comic book series Konga by Charlton Comics ARE public domain.

The movie Konga (1961) is NOT public domain and will enter the public domain in the US on January 1, 2057.

Unlike Gorgo and Kong, I don't think Reptilicus himself is public domain.

I've gone back and forth on this, but here's my latest thinking:

The original Danish film was released on February 20, 1961. I cannot find an American copyright registration for this movie in 1961, but when the URAA went into effect its copyright would've been restored and extended to the full 95 years.

The novelization by Dudley Dean McGaughey (writing as "Dean Owen") was published later in 1961 by Monarch Books. The copyright registration is dated June 6, 1961. This can be found on Page 446 of the 1961 Catalog of Copyright Entries for Books and Pamphlets:

Reptilicus, by Dean Owen, pseud. Monarch Books. (Monarch movie book, MM605) Based on an original story by Sidney Pink. Screenplay by Ib Melchior. © Cinemagic, Inc.; 6Jun61; A506756

I cannot find any renewal registered for the book, so the novelization is public domain.

Reptilicus #1 from Charlton Comics has a cover date of August 1961, which means it was actually published in June 1961. I could not find a copyright registration for it.

The American film - which ISN'T just a dub of the the 1961 movie, but an entirely reshot and re-edited film (they had all the actors re-film every scene again in English, then dubbed over it anyway, and then made significant cuts) - was released some time in late 1962 (can't find an exact date). The copyright registration for the movie can be found on Page 39 of the 1963 Catalog for Motion Pictures and is dated November 21, 1962:

REPTILICUS. Cinemagic. Released by American International Pictures. 81 min., sd., color, 35mm, An Alta Vista Production. Pathecolor. Based on story by Sid Pink. © Cinemagic, Inc.; 21Nov62; LP23589.

The American movie's copyright was renewed on January 8, 1990 (RE0000464900), and the original Danish movie's copyright was renewed by the URAA when that went into effect.

Because the novelization was published several months after the Danish movie's release, the character and story of Reptilicus are NOT public domain. The Danish movie Reptilicus (1961) will enter the public domain in the U.S. on January 1, 2057 and the American movie will enter on January 1, 2058.

Luckily, you have a nice replacement in the character Reptisaurus, another Charlton Comics character whose comics have also lapsed into the public domain. Reptisaurus was originally created because Charlton lost the rights to Reptilicus, so Reptisaurus initially looks just like a red Reptilicus. Later, Reptisaurus graduated to a more unique character design so you get multiple monsters for one! And, frankly, Reptisaurus is a more interesting character anyway - he has a mate, has children, and fights space aliens!

Evidence

The comic books I believe are public domain due to a lack of proper copyright notice in the initial issues, at least from people have said (they have notices it's just that I don't know enough to say so), and if they are considered proper then the lack of renewal still puts the printed material in the public domain (at least things that would be renewed prior to 1992)

Both had novels that released in 1960 prior to their films debuting in 1961. Both novels were registered under monarch books, a label used by Charlton who published the comics. Neither novel appears to have been renewed from 1978 onward with only the films having their copyrights renewed

Now there's two major hurdles to these characters potentially being public domain

Whether the derivative nature of the print media means the films take priority in establishing the copyright of the story and characters, in spite of not being the characters public debut

And whether the scripts are still copywritten. I haven't found any evidence that the scripts themselves are copyrighted, but that doesn't mean they aren't and brings things into a legal grey area

So, if anyone who is more well versed in copyright law than me, especially a lawyer, please feel free to clear things up. Honestly it would be cool knowing that some giant monsters are public domain and usable by others

Although if these two aren't public domain there's at least Charlton's legally distinct version of Repitlicus called Reptisaurus, since I beleive those comics never got their copyright renewed

When Mystery Science Theater 3000 debuted on national television in 1989, the first victim of Joel and the ‘Bots was The Crawling Eye, a British monster movie. The show’s revival on Netflix begins with another creature feature filmed in Europe, Reptilicus. I had the pleasure of watching this episode at the Season 11 premiere in New York and thought it was incredible, with a blizzard of quality jokes and a monster rap for the ages. Certainly Reptilicus was an excellent target: the monster is laughable and the comedy is horrifying. But there’s an incredible story behind the making of that 1961 movie, and a trio of strange adaptations that followed it. MST3k, by its nature, can’t tell that story, so I’d like to give it a try myself.