a little help with copyright

[scootermcdow]

im still in the preproduction stages of making a James Bond film i have a script but i need some advice to understand something anyway heres the question. when i have finished the film (if that ever happens) im planning to do a public viewing but charge a small admission to cover the costs of hiring a venue also im going to make dvds and vhs copies for those who want a copy but charge a small fee for them also to cover the cost of the dvd's and videos no profit is going to be made is this legal?

[KayBeck]

No because you're using a character to which you do not have the rights for. Anything you do with this film that makes you money will put it well within their rights to sue you for copyright infringement.

[Themovieman44]

KayBeck is right. To use a franchised/copywritten characterand make money off of the film is subject to copyright infringement and subject to a heavy fine. It works just like copywritten music. The character isn't necessarilly copywritten but the fact that the films which contain the character makes it copywritten. So if you want to show the film publicly you can't legally charge. Now I wouldn't advise it, but you can sell it under the table on VHS and DVD.

[Spike_P_2]

ok but what about my film i have told you all about? the resident evil film? i am not gonna sell it to anyone to get money i just want to show it to poeple, and the only copies ill make is for the people in the film itself. am i breaking the law? like i said i am not gonna be making money out of this film, just putting a lot of it in.

[KayBeck]

Technically yes, you are breaking the law, but 9 times out of 10 they won't persue it unless it's making money.

For example, Sandy Collera's Batman and Superman shorts are copywritten characters but it's not for sale or distribution and he's had no problems. On the other hand, there's a popularJames Bond spoof done with lego that recieved a cease and desist order because they were using the copyrighted characters.

In the end it's a crapshoot but I think you should be fine.

[Themovieman44]

Technically yes, you are breaking the law, but 9 times out of 10 they won't persue it unless it's making money.

This is untrue. In the typical copyright clause it states about copyrights only being broken if a profit is made off of a prior idea.

Anyone can use anyone's idea. Hell I can go around telling people I created the George Foreman Grill; what you are saying is that I am breaking copyright/trademark laws. Only if I pursue money would you be able to bust me for infringement.

[Spike_P_2]

ok so i am in the clear on all this? i am fine so lng as i make no money, correct? besides i wouldnt worry about my R E movie getting anywhere cause sadly enough its not traditional to the story, but definately same concept along with title and virus names. not to mention i bring uop the hive from the first movie they(sony) made.

[KayBeck]

Sorry I was thinking about something else. Yes, you have nothing to worry about as long as there's no profit involved.

[Raptor]

Technically yes, you are breaking the law, but 9 times out of 10 they won't persue it unless it's making money.

This is untrue. In the typical copyright clause it states about copyrights only being broken if a profit is made off of a prior idea.

Anyone can use anyone's idea. Hell I can go around telling people I created the George Foreman Grill; what you are saying is that I am breaking copyright/trademark laws. Only if I pursue money would you be able to bust me for infringement.

Wrong! ANY use is infringement. It has nthing to do with whether you want to make money or not. The whole basis is that you through copyright and trademark you can control the USE of your creation. Nowhere does the copyright law mention profit/money etc as a requirement for infringement. You are responsible for any 'loss of revenue' which means that you used without paying proper license. Now where the money comes into play, the copyright holder can sue you for any money you made above and beyond the statutory dmagaes, they can collect whatever they would have charged you to license the character.

See http://www.benedict.com/
http://www.templetons.com/brad/copyright.html
http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html

And if you are up to wading through the actual laws....
http://www.copyright.gov

[KayBeck]

Well I guess I wasn't thinking of something else then. Thanks for the links, I had trouble finding them before.

[wildabeast009]

Technically yes, you are breaking the law, but 9 times out of 10 they won't persue it unless it's making money.

This is untrue. In the typical copyright clause it states about copyrights only being broken if a profit is made off of a prior idea.

Anyone can use anyone's idea. Hell I can go around telling people I created the George Foreman Grill; what you are saying is that I am breaking copyright/trademark laws. Only if I pursue money would you be able to bust me for infringement.

You can tell people you made George Foreman's grill, but you can not make copies. So scootermcdow, you may not show them to anyone. You aren't really even supposed to make it, but does the MPAA care? Not really. When you make "copies" of something, like a James Bond character, you could be cutting thier profits because the studio(s) does not have that character, idea, ect. exclusively. This is why we have copywrite laws. You may hate them now, but later when you have something of yours you want exclusively, you will love them.

[I3lade203]

Well aside from the techincal side, which raptor seems to have covered... they WILL Care if you charge for DVDS and admission fees. For the resident evil film, your simply endursing their product, and it's not a huge thing either, it's a small film, that they may not even ever hear of. You can have a local showing, and invite people to it as long as it's free and just to show your film, and nobody will care. You CAN give out FREE copies of the dvd, and nobody will care. Just be sure to state Resident evil is copyright ect ect ect... and you should be fine.

[Raptor]

Well aside from the techincal side, which raptor seems to have covered... they WILL Care if you charge for DVDS and admission fees. For the resident evil film, your simply endursing their product, and it's not a huge thing either, it's a small film, that they may not even ever hear of. You can have a local showing, and invite people to it as long as it's free and just to show your film, and nobody will care. You CAN give out FREE copies of the dvd, and nobody will care. Just be sure to state Resident evil is copyright ect ect ect... and you should be fine.

Legally, no you cannot... only the copyright holder can distribute copies, and only the copyright holder can publicly perform... the law specifically mentions distributing copies by sale, lease, renting or any other means....
We had to get permission for our host to wear a resident evil T-Shirt on The Underground.. and trust me we aren't making any money off of that either LOL... you cannot get around it by saying it is free advertising for them... it is illegal to use someone else's work in any form other than that provided under fair use guidelines, and even that does not give you permission to use it, it is only a defense for you to use AFTER you have been sued for infringement.... In all likelihood, a simple request to the copyright owner for RE requesting permission to do a fan film based on it would get you permission and perhaps some encouragement. Better to go that route than risk any type of legal action. Even if you are just making copies for the people in the production.. suppose someone decides to post their copy to the net ( another form of distribution) ....
Bottom line is, there is no legal way to use anything that is protected under copyright and be guaranteed that you won't be charged with infringement.

[Spike_P_2]

so your telling me to long story short contact sony and constantine films to ask their permissin to make a fan based film, so that way i have my back covered and if i want to i can put it on the net.

[Raptor]

If it were based on the game, then you may only need the permission of the game publisher. I believe you'll find that the movies were licensed from the game, de[pending on what that license is you may or may not be able to get permission from the game publisher. Chris, my partner, made that contact so I'm not sure who he talked to, but they were really easy to get in touch with and deal with, so I would probably try them before I went to Sony pictures. I've never personally dealt with Sony for any releases for music etc, but from what I have heard from others, they are not the easiest to deal with. Basicaly tho, yes, if you are making a fan film, it's best to contact for permission, unless the owner of the copyright and trademark are publicly on record allowing fan films without permission....

[crb]

I would agree with the comments on being sued. Techinically, they can nail you if they felt like it. But most companies that are big probably have more important things to do, unless everyone was copying one certain charecter so that it caught their attention. But why even go do that route. The best way to save your butt is to not even have it out there to get hit in the first place! Be TOTALLY original. I write totally original screenplays since I was like 12 or 13 because I wanted to write something no one had EVER seen before. I want something that surprises you with originality and try hard to stear away from other's ideas, even a hint of their ideas.

[I3lade203]

Heh. Raptor, thats not the point I was talking about. I was saying, most people really don't give a damn if a bunch of kids are having some fun making a fanfilm. Some people do. Thats why you can get away with some, and cannot with others.

[Spike_P_2]

ok the very last line on the bottom of this page http://www.sonypictures.com/corp/cliplicensing.html
does this in fact mean that if i use it on the internet, that i cannot get in trouble with sony for this? i am astonished, i had emailed them and they sent me this in the way of usage of their product. some one tell me what this means, please????

[Faldor]

it means if you want to use footage or images from their films you can buy a licence for doing so in a film or tv show etc but they wont sell anyone a licence to use on the internet.

it does not mean you can not get in trouble it means if they find you've used their footage on a website you can only get in trouble.

[Spike_P_2]

that sucks, but im still shooting my movie and praying to god i dont get sued. and after all im not using a character, just a title. and i know thats no better.

[I3lade203]

Just a title? Change the title! If you do, then it will look like a HUGE rip off rather then the actual thing! ( Of course, people will know what it is ) but none the less, it will be different.

[Raptor]

Title only??? OK then that is a horse of a different color... you cannot copyright a title, it has to be covered under Trademark law, a whole different set of circumstance. Under trademark law, they can defend your use of their mark as
a) dissolution of the mark - your use of it makes it less valuable to them
b) disparaging the mark - you make it look bad...
and a whole host of other problems.... but it is different than copyright in what constitutes a violation, and what penalties and recourse are available....

[Spike_P_2]

whoa whoa whoa, hold up, now! i am just saying that i know if im not careful i can get into trouble with this. im not stupid. but i am using the title because i was inspired more by the games than i was by the movies. Im not ripping off anythign. for those of you who have played RE 4 then you know that it completey bastardized the point of the game. and besides blade, you said youd help me out with this. Not that im taking advantage of what you said, but you know what i mean. I cant just go back and change my whole script i spent a year writing.

[I3lade203]

I said title. Not script.

[crb]

ok, dumb question. Why can't someone just go back and change an entire script after you have worked on it for a year. I have done it now atleast on three different scripts.