Team Angry Filmworks is currently seeking a declaratory judgment that the 1928 story “Armageddon 2419 A.D.” about the spaceman Buck Rogers is now part of the public domain. The Hollywood filmmakers claim that they do not need permission from the creator’s heirs to make a Buck Rogers movie. The President of Team Angry Filmworks, Don Murphy, claims that “Buck Rogers entered the public domain in the United States in or about 1956 and worldwide in or about 2010.” The Buck Rogers character was created by Philip Francis Nowlan who wrote for the pulp magazine “Amazing Stories.” Neither of the descendants’ Louis Greer or the Dille Family Trust has commented on the lawsuit.
See Mike Heuer, Filmmaker Says Buck Rogers Is Public Domain, Courthouse News Service, August 6, 2015.
Special thanks to Brian Cohan (Attorney at Law, Law Offices of Brian J. Cohan, P.C.) for bringing this article to my attention.
