Just to clarify, this is for a very small film, being shown at a small festival...not a big production at all.

Apparently, California branch of the NAACP claims copyright to the original film footage of that speech:

http://naacpsantamonicavenice.org/martin-luther-king-i-have-a-dream-speech-original-film-footage/

I wonder if the claim is enforceable. The main question is, who shot the original footage and what they did with it when it was broadcast on every TV network of the time, as well as what happened to the ownership of the footage since. On the other hand, whoever shot it then, it is quite possible that at some point, NAACP sought the original owner who shot the footage and purchased the rights from them outright.

The linked NAACP site is probably a good starting point for the search on this.

Thanks Vasic! I checked it out, and it looks like they just linked a YouTube video, which was uploaded three years ago by someone who doesn't look at all connected to the NAACP...so I looked up the whole thing on Wikipedia, here's what they say-

"Because King distributed copies of the speech at its performance, there was controversy regarding the speech's copyright status for some time. This led to a lawsuit, Estate of Martin Luther King, Jr., Inc. v. CBS, Inc., which established that the King estate does hold copyright over the speech and had standing to sue; the parties then settled. Unlicensed use of the speech or a part of it can still be lawful in some circumstances, especially in jurisdictions under doctrines such as fair use or fair dealing. Under the applicable copyright laws, the speech will remain under copyright in the United States until 70 years after King's death, thus until 2038."

I also saw an MIT forum transcript from 2002 concerning copyright law, and they were implying that it still was under copyright protection at that time.

So, the outcome of all this is that it is still under copyright protection, and I won't be using it...oh well.

Thanks again!

Actually, I'm not sure if the copyright applies to the beginning of the YouTube video, which is before the speech, and shows people marching through DC. Do you think that it is under the copyright protection as well, maybe because it is part of the same film?

Why won't you ask for permission to use the clip? The right to copy doesn't mean
you can't use it at all, it means you just need permission.

But I'm getting a little confused. Are you asking about news footage of people
marching through DC? Footage that doesn't use the words spoken - just the
images?

=============================================
The aim of an argument or discussion should not be victory, but progress.
Joseph Joubert, essayist (1754-1824)

Either way, oftentimes, permission to use copyrighted footage can be obtained without any charge, depending on the purpose of use. If your film is an "amateur" film (i.e. independent filmmaker with another day job) and only a short segment of it is being shown, owners just might give the permission for free, or some very cheap nominal fee.

Asking permission from original owners is always worth a shot. Keep in mind, though, here, it may mean two owners: the MLK estate for the content of the speech itself, and (presumably) NAACP for the film footage of it.

Alright, I'm sending an email to a firm called "Intellectual Rights Management" in Atlanta, they apparently hold the rights. Thanks for the advice!

Certified Instigator, in my last post I was talking about the news footage. My point was that if it was part of the original film that King himself distributed, then it would probably be under the copyright protection.

Anyways, I'll update on whether or not I get it!

Got it.

The speech itself is under copyright. Dr. King's delivery of the speech is under copyright.
The news footage of the entire event might be under copyright and that right may be
owned by the news organization. The Estate may not own the copyright of that specific
footage. Does the footage you need have to be those specific shots or can it be any shots
of people marching in the Civil Rights movement?

It really could be of anyone marching in the Civil Rights movement. I'd prefer if it was taken in DC, but others would probably work as well.

You could always but the stock footage:
http://www.buyoutfootage.com/pages/titles/pd_na_018.php

But notice the disclaimer: "NOTE: Audio excerpts from the speech "I Have a Dream" - excluding quotes from Scripture and the U.S. Constitution - are copyrighted by the King Estate."

I'm not really sure what that means in a practical sense.

RJSchwarz

Update. I didn't get a call back from the rights management place, so I looked around for free stock footage, and found a documentary from 1960 called "Integrity Report." http://www.archive.org/details/Integrat1960

It's in the public domain, and the production company doesn't exist anymore, so there's no permission needed to use it. It should work for me because it has footage of marching and other protests.

Thanks again for the help!