ripping off movies

[brianluce]

I'm producing a commercial and was thinking of doing it as a humorous parody of the Matrix or maybe "invasion of body snatchers". does anyone know what the limitations are? i'd imagine you couldn't make an exact replica of the set and costumes and use the matrix name or even "neo" but there must be some gray area for this thing otherwise how could SNL do parodies? anyone know the guidelines?

 

[sean90291]

True parody is fair market use of "other people's ideas" (because a true parody becomes something original and new and unlike the original idea, even if people recognize the allusions you're making to the original). Note however that parody is not fair use in all countries, though it is in the U.S. And the real problem is parody is a subjective test. You probably could NOT do a parody AND use the Matrix name. You can't trade off the goodwill/commercial value (i.e., the name) of another product (like the Matrix). You could probably call it the Flaketrix or the Latex or something equally parodying the name. Even the name Neo might start getting you into dangerous territory. It's a subjective test, as I said, and you want to err on the side of caution. SNL has a team of lawyers vetting skit ideas for legal infringement. NBC also has the power to defend themselves if someone doesn't like a parody. But you might not. And your client might not want the headache of potentially warding off a lawsuit (because even if parody is "legal" it doesn't mean someone might not try to sue you to stop production/broadcast of your film). Unfortunately the only safe way to proceed is to get legal advice and buy E&O insurance for your project.

 

[brianluce]

great info sean,

do you know if there's a list somewhere of the countries that outlaw parody? our commercials go everywhere...

 

[sean90291]

I don't know about such a list, but I do know that in Canada, parody is not nearly as strong a "defense" against copyright infringement as it is in the U.S.