Shows Without Copyright Dates...

[TimK2003]

Watching the recently posted Tattletales marathon on YouTube, I noticed that Tattletales (70s version) was one of the rare, if not last, Goodson-Todman shows that did not include a copyright date at the end of the show.  When they showed a couple of episodes with Monty Hall, I remembered that most LMAD shows in the early years were sans copyright dates.  Marshall's Hollywood Squares came to mind as well as being another big show that lacked a copyright date.

Were there other notable game shows that followed this practice, and why did production companies shun the dating of their shows? 

[thomas_meighan]

Network Goodson-Todman programs started carrying copyright dates in late 1977/early 1978. (One exception was evidently the ABC "Password"; the All-Stars finale has a 1975 copyright notice to Peak Productions.) Syndicated G-T shows always carried copyright dates AFAIK.

This is *only* speculation, but the adoption of copyright notices may have had something to do with the Copyright Act of 1976 coming into force on 1-1-1978. The previous legislation, the Copyright Act of 1909, was passed when broadcasting media were essentially non-existent, and until the new law came into force, the products of new technology had to have their copyrights interpreted through somewhat antiquated standards.

Some games did have copyright notices before the Goodson-Todman shows; I think the circulating 1976 episodes of "Wheel of Fortune" have them.

Daytime serials varied widely in terms of carrying copyright notices. "Dark Shadows" did from its beginning, and "Ryan's Hope" also had copyright notices prior to 1978, but the Proctor and Gamble dramas didn't have them until 1980 or so. I also haven't seen copyright notices on "The Doctors" episodes from 1967 to 1976 that have been aired on RetroTV.

[BrandonFG]

That seemed to be pretty common in the early-70s. Off the top of my head, I've seen CBS Joker's Wild, Gambit, and High Rollers episodes on the circuit, all without a copyright. Then you had shows like Sports Challenge and The $10,000 Pyramid where the episode simply faded to black mid-credits. Thomas's theory makes a lot of sense.

One that struck me as really odd was the first season of the syndicated Deal or No Deal. That one didn't have a copyright either. By season two, that changed.

[Chief-O]

When they showed a couple of episodes with Monty Hall, I remembered that most LMAD shows in the early years were sans copyright dates.

I never saw copyrights on the All-New LMAD either.

[Bryce L.]

And another one, Scrabble didn't start using copyright dates until about January 1985 (I want to say the first episode I've seen with a date at the end is also the first one with the "pick one letter, the other goes back in the shuffle" rule in the Sprint, but don't hold me to that)

[johnnya2k3]

When they showed a couple of episodes with Monty Hall, I remembered that most LMAD shows in the early years were sans copyright dates.

I never saw copyrights on the All-New LMAD either.

Neither did the 1980 Canadian version; in fact, that, the original, and All-New LMAD all had no copyright notices.

[Mr. Matté]

Legally speaking, would these pre-1978 shows without copyright notices be officially in the public domain? Files like that on Wikipedia would be (like maps and postcards) but would it apply to half hour television shows as well?

[thomas_meighan]

Legally speaking, would these pre-1978 shows without copyright notices be officially in the public domain? Files like that on Wikipedia would be (like maps and postcards) but would it apply to half hour television shows as well?

As they say, "I am not an intellectual property lawyer" (or any other kind), but generally speaking, to be legally safe, I would assume they aren't. I don't know the degree to which the copyright of pre-1978 broadcasts has been tested in court, but one significant question that a court would have to address is whether broadcasting can be construed as a form of "publication". (Syndicated series were offered for sale, and thus meet at least one criterion of "publication" as envisioned in 1909.) In addition, there may be state-level or common-law copyright statues that protect broadcasts without explicit copyright notices or registrations.

[Bob Zager]

Network Goodson-Todman programs started carrying copyright dates in late 1977/early 1978.

Tattletales DID carry the copyright dates during their weekly syndication run, and also on the daytime version simultaneously.  The caption would read the copyright year and "Panel Productions."  After returning in early 1982, it sometimes read "The Tattletale Company," or "The Tattletales Company," depending on when recording was done.