Wow, it says Roddy Mcdowall's collection was raided in 1974. Yet theatrical films didn't even BEGIN to show up on home video until November 1977. (source: http://www.entmerch.org/industry_history.html)
So it's not like the film companies were losing money by him not going to the store and picking up a copy on video. Unless he was showing them publicly and charging admission, they should have left him alone. Jerks.