The program for the 1922 Berlin premiere of Nosferatu said the film was adapted from Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Nobody had asked Florence Stoker. She was Bram’s widow, she lived in London, and she depended on his literary estate.
Prana Film, the company behind it, went bankrupt a few months after the premiere. Florence sued anyway, through the Incorporated Society of Authors. Years of hearings and appeals followed.
In July 1925, after Prana’s liquidators gave up their appeal, the order took effect: the negative and all the prints were to be destroyed. She never collected a penny. The company was bankrupt.
By then the prints were already out in the world, and that October a newly formed film society in London announced a screening. Surviving copies made their way to archives in Germany, France and New York, and today’s restorations are pieced together from them.
Florence still came out ahead. While the case was still in the German courts, she agreed to an authorized stage Dracula. It opened in Derby in May 1924, and Hollywood later bought the screen rights for $40,000.
Sources
- NPR, “Try as she might, Bram Stoker’s widow couldn’t kill ‘Nosferatu’” (Mar 15, 2022)
- EBSCO Research Starters, “Nosferatu Is Found to Have Violated Dracula Copyright” (Berlin case began May 1924, first ruling two months later; July 1925 order; London screening announced that October)
- Emory “Vampire Librarian” timeline, citing David J. Skal, Hollywood Gothic (July 20, 1925)
- The Guardian, “Fangs for the memories: how Dracula was made in Derby” (June 3, 2024; Derby premiere May 1924, Florence’s agreement)
- The Irish Times, “Nosferatu and the fangs of copyright infringement” ($40,000 screen rights)
Related: Is Nosferatu public domain? · Is Dracula (1931) public domain? · What enters the public domain in 2027