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Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage Welles' Child Sues Over Rights to 'Citizen Kane'
Tue February 4, 2003 04:12 PM ET
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The daughter of filmmaker Orson Welles is suing two studios over the rights to "Citizen Kane," saying that a newly discovered 1944 document gave her the copyright to the classic film, her lawyer said on Tuesday.

The lawsuit brought by Beatrice Welles, the youngest of the director's three children, in Federal District Court San Francisco also claims RKO Pictures and Turner Entertainment failed to pay royalties as part of a previous agreement for "Citizen Kane" and "The Magnificent Ambersons."

Steven Ames Brown, the attorney who filed the lawsuit, said the case stems from a recent discovery of a 1944 deal that nullified a 1939 agreement in which Welles transferred copyright of "Citizen Kane" from the director to RKO.

"This is essentially asking the court to determine who owns what," Brown said.

If the judge declines to award Welles' daughter rights to "Citizen Kane" then Brown argued his client is at least owed profits under the 1939 agreement. The lawsuit alleges Welles had a 20 percent profit-sharing agreement for "Citizen Kane" and a 25 percent royalty deal for the other film.

Brown added his client is only seeking royalties, not ownership, from "The Magnificent Ambersons." He declined to speculate on how much the royalties and copyright might be worth.

"They can't have it both ways," Brown said. "They can't say the agreement was terminated and that they got to keep the copyright and the money."