While having dinner with kids&spouses, we watched Puss in Boots II. I don't usually watch "kids'" movies, but the color and the effects were really good, so I tuned in. The story was trite and messengy, but the dialog was actually funny, at times quite brilliant ... if you listened closely. It included Little Jack Horner (now Big Jack) gathering up all the magical tools he would need to capture the One Wishing Star, and one was a globe with Puss&Friends inside. He says, "I'll get you my pretties and your little dog, too!" (The sidekick is a dog.) References to fairytales and famous lines abound. At the end, the characters sail away to "Far, far away." I was wondering if dialog can be copyrighted also, and if the filmmakers had to get permission to use them. On the one hand, lines like "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn" have been used, or a variation thereof, so much it would seem to be in the public domain. On the other hand, it seems like royalties are due when verbatim lines and props are used. Anyone have a thought on this?
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I love a good easter egg in films, the surprise is so much fun!! This would be a good question for Dane Johnson, I'll share it with him.
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Thanks Shellie Schmals! There are so many legal issues involved, this could be a bar exam question.
Certain aspects of genre stories like fairy tales, westerns, heist and gangster pictures, etc. are not protectable by copyright. These elements are called scènes à faire. They are the stock elements without which such a story could not be told, like a gunfight happening at high noon, gadgets hidden in common objects, and a fairy tale happening "far, far away."
Short phrases are usually not protectable by copyright because they generally lack the minimum creativity required. But sometimes they can be, either alone or all together. Copying a collection of common phrases or dialogue in the same sequence, for example, could support an infringement claim. Copying one of the distinctive lines from a nonsense poem like Jabberwocky could also infringe (fortunately, that poem is in the public domain in the U.S. because it was registered with the Copyright Office before 1927).
Copying dialogue that references a character name, such as “E.T. phone home” could also be a problem under both copyright and trademark law.
Props might also sometimes need to be cleared before use in a film. As long as the use shown in the film is the item’s normal use, and the prop is the actual item (not a derivative work), you are probably not going to face a copyright or trademark infringement claim if your character uses it in that way. Using props as just set dressing (not a focus of the scene, like a poster prominently displayed in the background) is also likely not infringement.
That isn’t to say that someone might still sue (and of course this comment is not legal advice). For example, a construction equipment manufacturer didn’t like the way its bulldozers were used by the villain in the film George of the Jungle. They apparently thought it tarnished their trademark since their logo was shown on the equipment as it tore up the jungle, and they sued to block the movie’s release. But the bulldozer was used in the film just as bulldozers are used in real life.
If you are sued for infringing someone’s intellectual property, there may be other defenses such as fair use in any of these kinds of cases. But since you really don’t want to have to deal with being sued even when you do win, It’s smart to clear every use (or be thoroughly prepared to explain why you’re on solid legal ground).
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Thank-you Shellie Schmals and Dane Johnson for a lesson about why movies cost so much to make: lawyers. Truly a legal minefield. Your information was much appreciated.
Wow Dane Johnson - I never knew it could be that involved! Thanks for sharing that information!