Public domain BOOK in movie

D

dreamerinsf

Member
Hi there,

Does anyone is familiar with copyright laws in relation to exposing someone else book in a scene?

I am in a process of writing a script. Can I create a script around a non-fiction book? For example, How to win friends and influence people by Dale Carnegie? Do I need a permission from publisher if I show "How to win friends and influence people" book in any scene once or more than once throughout the movie?

Thank you very much for your reply.
Regards....
 
Hi:

I deal with the legal departments at all of the studios every day. Let's just say if you want a legitimate distributor to consider your picture, you had better thought all of this out. The studio's legal departments almost always error on the side of conservative. ANYTHING that they construe as being possibly sued over must be butchered. I work in the documentary realm, perhaps they are more paranoid than they are in the features divisions but you would be amazed at how paranoid they are and how little they will let you get away with.

It is to the point to where we used to create ficitious book covers and movie posters and just various graphics from scratch using all original elements so we had something to show when the script is describing it. No more, they will not let you even create your own graphic/book cover/etc and mention the name of the original work.

You as a filmmaker can do whatever you want but to get a studio and or distributor to take on distributing your film, you had better have permission from everyone for everything or else they may pass or you may have to pony up big bucks to shut up people who want to sue you because you used their image, work, etc. We live in an overly litigious society and as a filmmaker, you are a huge target for frivolous lawuits.

I would definitely get permission to show the book if you are serious about this project. If they deny you, make a fake version with a totally different title and use it. Seek real advice from a qualified entertainment attorney, I am not an attorney but I do deal with all of the studio legal departments almost every day.

Good luck,

Dan
 
Thank you Dan.

So, movie such as scary movie, ask for permission from copyrights owner for movie "War of the worlds", "The village" to create spoof movie?

Thank you.
 
Whether you can use copyrighted material without permission as a legal matter (setting aside the possibility that your distributor will require more, as Dan points out) often depends on whether your proposed use constitutes fair use. There are a number of categories of fair use, one of which is parody, but determining whether a particular use is fair use often is not a simple matter. Here is a link to a page that has an article discussing fair use, as well as links to a bunch of additional material on the topic.

http://www.current.org/doc/doc0521fairuse.shtml

There are also some DVXUser threads discussing this issue.

Hope that helps,
Kevin Wolff
 
yeah scary movie didn't have to ask anyone at all. it is a straight up parody beyond a reasonable doubt. Puredrifting is right don't use it if you don't have to.
 
a song, movie poster, book may be old enough to have the copyright outdated and thus public domain, but...more often than nought ( as i have searched alot for public domain material ) someone, will still have the rights to it, like classical music that was written hundreds of years ago. a record label recorded it and thus has distribution rights. the prelinger archives have tons of public domain video though. pretty funny stuff actually, everyone should check it out if they havent yet. lots of 50's -60's propaganda films.
www.archive.org/details/prelinger
 
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