Case 4:11-cv-00050RH-WCS (N.D. Fla., 2011)
As stated on the "preslaw" website:
In this case, Elvis Presley Enterprises filed a copyright/trademark action accusing Bud Glass Productions, a video distributor, of wilfully engaging in infringing activity consisting of the manufacture, distribution, marketing, promotion and sale of a CD/DVD box set entitled, Elvis 77 – The Final Curtain.
This particular box set, included the 1977 CBS Special, Elvis in Concert, which Elvis’ estate has refused to publish (though it was privately made available to members of the Elvis Presley Fan Club of Great Britain a few years ago). In addition to Elvis in Concert, the set included content from other shows filmed in 1977, excerpts of which were included in Elvis in Concert.
Elvis Presley Enterprises has proven to be very protective over this last period of Elvis’ career, having stated:
"Because of the severity of Elvis’ health problems at the time the special was shot, Elvis was far from his best in the way he looked and the way he performed …. There just simply is no way to get it [the footage] only to the real fans (and we’ve exhausted all kinds of ideas) without also having Elvis served up to the general public and press for ridicule. They already emphasize and exaggerate the tragedy and sadness of the last years of his life too much."
This case was part of a group of legal actions that Elvis Presley Enterprises initiated against “a global bootleg ring”, which also includes a case against Joseph Pirzada in the Chancery Division of the High Court, England and Wales. The case against Bud Glass Productions, filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida, was eventually settled out of court. Details of this settlement are available in the Consent Order (from the public record - see preslaw website for details).
It apparently is ok if the estate is making money off the CBS footage themselves as featured in the most dramatic finale to the Elvis 2022 movie as Austin Butler morphs into Elvis, or as previously seen in This Is Elvis (1981) and other officialy produced or endorsed TV documentaries (and DVD, streaming releases). The CBS footage is widely available in various forms and different "remastered" versions splashed all over youtube. Has EPE now lost interest in protecting its boradcast, distribution and publication ? - and if so it would seem appropriate to distribute in best possible quality available to Fans or via a closed streaming service.
