Cite as 522 F.2d 737 (1975)
Jeffrey Squires, Washington, D. C., Peter Jaszi, Chevy Chase, Md. (Goldfarb & Singer, Washington, D. C., Edward A. Sargoy, New York City, of counsel), for defendants-appellants, cross-appellees, and third-party plaintiffs-appellants.
Louis Jobrack, New York City (Isadore B. Hurwitz, New York City, of counsel), for plaintiff-appellee and cross-appellant and third-party appellees.
Gerald Meyer, New York City (Phillips, Nizer, Benjamin, Krim & Ballon, New York City, Melville B. Nimmer, Kaplan, Livingston, Goodwin, Berkowitz & Selvin, Beverly Hills, Cal., of counsel), for amicus curiae Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., and others.
Before MOORE and MANSFIELD, Circuit Judges, and HOLDEN, District Judge.[* 1]
MANSFIELD, Circuit Judge:
The central issue presented by this appeal is the validity of a renewal copyright in D. W. Griffith’s famous film classic The Birth of a Nation (“The Birth”), which was a pioneer in the field of full-length feature motion pictures. The renewal was issued in 1942 by the Copyright Office to Epoch Producing Corporation (“Epoch”), which in 1969 brought suit in the Southern District of New York for infringement against Killiam Shows, Inc., Gregstan Enterprises and Paul Killiam, defendants and third-party plaintiffs (collectively referred to herein as “Killiam”), and against Movielab, Inc. Killiam answered, contending that under the law governing copyright renewal, 17 U.S.C. § 24,[1] Epoch had no legal right to the renewal and that the motion picture passed into the public domain at the expiration of the original 28-year copyright term for lack of a valid renewal application.
- ↑ *Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Vermont, sitting by designation.
- ↑ Title 17 U.S.C. § 24 provides:
“The copyright secured by this title shall endure for twenty-eight years from the date of first publication, whether the copyrighted work bears the author’s true name or is published anonymously or under an assumed
“Duration; renewal and extension
