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When ‘Ben-Hur’ went to the Supreme Court and changed Hollywood forever
by The Washington Post, Dave Kindy — 17 April 2022
1959’s Ben-Hur is one of the most enduring and successful blockbuster films of all time winning 11 Academy Awards, including Best Picture. But before the much loved Charlton Heston version premiered, there were a number of earlier versions of the story, the first of which was filmed without rights approval due to the unregulated nature of the early film industry.
Eventually, the film triggered a major copyright lawsuit which the producer lost, and appealed, all the way to the Supreme Court. The case set a precedent for the film industry and the legal use of copyrighted properties flourished.
