A few years ago, Mark Bennett from DuneInfo passed on a message to me from Koch Films in Germany (now Plaion Pictures), who wanted to talk to me about releasing Dune Redux. I couldn't quite believe that this request was real. But I contacted them and learned that Koch had indeed asked the film's European rights holders Lionsgate for permission to include this cut as an Extra in a box set. They said yes.
Clearly, there were fans internally at Koch, and it seems legal counsel at Lionsgate took a progressive view of these matters. After a while, I reached a point where a felt I could trust Koch Films to release the edit as-is and ensure that I was credited. That potential issue is what kept me up at night. I provided them with the lossless master file and they kept their word. I'm beyond grateful for that.
That such a release was even possible is at least partly down to the unusual way Dune was originally financed and sold. Dino De Laurentiis was an independent producer who would raise money for his productions be pre-selling the rights to different territories around the world. Often, that wasn't the same company across each territory. So outside the USA, different rights holders could make their own decisions about their intellectual property.