Heard that producers are looking for scripts in the public domain. I know you shouldn't try to write fads, but a guy I know sold his script almost solely because it was a sequel to a novel in the public domain. So, I've had a concept for a PETER PAN sequel for a number of years and thought, why not. Can't figure out exactly what the copyright status is....Can anyone help?

Copyright status
The copyright status of Peter Pan varies from one jurisdiction to another, and is disputed in at least one of them. The question is complicated somewhat by the various versions in which the story has been published. For example, elements introduced in the earliest versions of the story by Barrie may be in public domain in a given jurisdiction, but elements introduced in later editions or adaptations might not. For example, Disney holds the copyright for the character designs, songs, etc. introduced in the 1953 animated film, but not for the characters themselves.

[edit]
European Union
Great Ormond Street Hospital (to which Barrie assigned the copyright as a gift before his death) claims full copyright in the European Union until the end of 2007. In the 1990s, the term of copyrights was standardised throughout the EU (see Directive on harmonising the term of copyright protection) to extend 70 years after the creator's death. Although Peter Pan was considered public domain in some jurisdictions at that time, this provision placed it back under copyright protection.

[edit]
United Kingdom
The U.K. copyright for Peter Pan originally expired at the end of 1987 (50 years after Barrie's death), but was reestablished through 2007 by the European Union directive. Additionally, in 1988 the government had enacted a perpetual extension of some of the rights to the work, entitling the hospital to royalties for any performance or publication of the work. This is not a true perpetual copyright, however, as it does not grant the hospital creative control nor the right to refuse permission. Nor does it cover the Peter Pan sections of The Little White Bird, which pre-dates the play. The exact phrasing is in section 301 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988:

301. The provisions of Schedule 6 have effect for conferring on trustees for the benefit of the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street, London, a right to a royalty in respect of the public performance, commercial publication, broadcasting or inclusion in a cable programme service of the play 'Peter Pan' by Sir James Matthew Barrie, or of any adaptation of that work, notwithstanding that copyright in the work expired on 31 December 1987. ([1])

[edit]
United States
The conversion of U.S. copyright terms from a fixed number of years following publication, to an extending number of years following the creator's death, has introduced confusion over Peter Pan's copyright status. Great Ormond Street Hospital claims that U.S. legislation effective in 1978 and again in 1998 extended their copyright until 2023. Their claim is based on the copyright for the play script for Peter Pan, which was not published until 1928. By then, the character of Peter Pan had appeared in three previously published books, the copyrights of which have since expired.

GOSH's claim is contested by various parties, including Disney, who had cooperated with the hospital previously, but in 2004 published Dave Barry's and Ridley Pearson's Peter and the Starcatchers without permission or royalty payments. The Library of Congress catalog states that the original edition of Peter and Wendy was published in 1911, and Disney asserts that that material, like any other work published before 1923, was already in the public domain at the time of these extensions, and was therefore ineligible to be extended.

A dispute between the hospital and writer J.E. Somma over the U.S. publication of her sequel After the Rain, was settled out of court in March 2005. GOSH and Somma issued a joint statement which characterized her novel as "fair use" of the hospital's "U.S. intellectual property rights". Their confidential settlement does not set any legal precedent, however. [2]

[edit]
Other jurisdictions
The original versions of Peter Pan are in the public domain in Australia and in Canada (where Somma's book was first published without incident).

bodegage,

Man, that is a hard example.  I mean, if you are writing, for fun, a sequel to Peter Pan, I'd say, 'go for it'.  However, if you have a Peter Pan sequel that you are trying to sell, that is another matter.  Barrie's intent was to have Great Ormond Street Hospital be beneficiary of royalties from “Peter Pan”.  A worthy cause.  Honestly, if you’ve written a sequel, shop it around and let the studio worry about it.

Dab

As I head into my third revision of TSC, I'm taking out anything that may configure with copyright laws.  Virtually all copyrighted things in the story are self explanatory and subject to elmination, but there's two things that I'm still curious on.

Those who have read will know what I'm talking about, those who haven't, I'll try to explain clearly.

1)  I'm considering changing the opening sequence to the gang filming their version of a James Bond film.  I know not to include any music or anything, but when they do that standard James Bond opening, where that circle thing is on him and then he fires a shot at the camera, if I were to actually use the name "James Bond" to describe what's going on, will that violate the copyright?

2) Same goes for the closing Shaft sequence, only when they're doing their "remake" the title "SHAFT" appears on the screen and one of the guys takes the role of him.

I've done some looking up on shtuff like this, and I don't know if my desired plan is scraping the edges or not or if I will need a release form or perhaps alter it further.

Any knowledge on this would be appreciated.  Thanks

I sat through twenty hours of copyright junk at a film class in Texas this past year...It's hard to remember, so I can't really tell you what the guy said about this kind of stuff. But I would think that you would need to get the people who own the James Bond franchise to sign something saying that you can use it. You can do this or a creative lawyer can do this...I'm not sure how to get a creative lawyer though...

I'm not sure if you really HAVE to do this, but I wouldn't take any chance with this kind of stuff...

=Me

Tough one. I'm not sure I know the answer. I guess it depends how much you use. I mean, there are a ton of movies packed full of pop-culture references. I can't see how what you're doing is much different. You still have your Star Wars parody, right?

I'm almost certain you can use 'James Bond-style' in your description, but there is probably another way to write it without mentioning the franchise (I like the Bond idea btw)

I wouldn't worry about it too much. If your hero drove a Cadillac or worked for Fed-Ex, would you feel the need to omit the name? It's only a problem if you're portraying that product in a negative way.

Actually, I have a similar question to Greg's if anyone has the answers.

A character in one of my scripts quotes Aldous Huxley in dialogue, mostly from The Doors of Perception, but also one or two of his other essays. Huxley is mentioned in the script, but the quoted dialogue isn't referenced and sometimes it's even paraphrased. Anyone familiar with The Doors... would probably recognize a few quotes, but obviously I don't want anyone thinking I'm stealing from another author. The character quotes Huxley's work like a thespian might quote Shakespeare. I'm not sure how to handle this.

If you want to include a literary work that is protected by copyright in your film, whether spoken by a character or displayed on the screen, you will generally need permission. You will also need permission to adapt a copyright literary work into a dramatic form such as a screenplay.

There are many other areas in film regarding copyright and you can read an 8-page PDF document by the Australian Film Council (which says pretty much the same thing as US and European bodies would) at:

http://www.copyright.org.au/publications/pdf/infosheets/G069.pdf

Ah, Kevan to the rescue.  Well, it says that generally film titles aren't protected by a copyright.  As far as the gang's remakes of Shaft, Star Wars, etc., that may be a different story.  

Thanks!

Hi guys,

well I hava a question :

A know a few things about copyright, and adaptations where you always have to ask for permission!

but let's say your screenplay is inspired by some small things, for instance : "a gun", a prop, or just the setting, are we then speaking of copyright?

Hi Pedro! What do want to adapt, pa? A book, characters or scripts already produced, no produced scripts or produced movies?

RPEDRO, can you explain a bit further? I don't quite understand.

Gabriel

well, it's from a manga, I don't want to adapt the characters,

but I like the idea of the gun!

I just like the gun, and would like to use a look a like gun!

I mean,

I don't want to adapt the story of the manga!

I like some small things, and it inspirated me to make somehting different!

is that copyright also?

Well, I know that ideas are not copyrighted. The structure its in is. So I think you could utilize it. Ideas are up for grab with anybody. The story that's told to convey the idea are different and thats copyrighted, so I think your free to use the gun idea.

Gabriel

Hope this helps

thanks a lot all!

you really helped me out on this!

Are you saying you want to write a script/story based on a gun you saw in a manga book?

I recall someone doing that a couple of years ago.  It wasn't that great because it was clear that the story was written around the gun.


Phil

no, no the story isn't about the gun actually,

the gun was just an example!

the gun is special coz it as a metal plate that serves as shield for bullets, which makes that pistol usable for both offense and defence.

If this gun is something which can be easily connected to another copyrighted material, I'd stay out of it. Just to throw in an example, it wouldn't be wise to write a script in which your characters use lightsabers, even if the rest of the narrative elements are different from Star Wars. Unless you're writing it just for fun.

yeah Mister Z, but still... I mean,

comparate to something like "the invisible man"

because it was once used does it mean, no one can ever do something with an invisible man ever again without first asking for permission of rights?

a lot of movies came about invisible men...


I'm a little lost here, to what exactly is copyright and not...

still, Gabriel cleared that one pretty well for me :-)

The same thing applies with the werewolf character, zombies, serial killers, etc. The format that the story is in and how its conveyed are all different but the ideas remain the same.  

I feel that its really difficult to come up with something original at this point in time, since there's a good chance that it was already done before in the past. But there are those few rare times when one can create something genuinly original.

Gabriel

Quoted from rpedro yeah Mister Z, but still... I mean, comparate to something like "the invisible man"

I know what you mean. I stand by my original advice, which I'll expand a bit.

If you're using an element as common as an invisible man, a werewolf, a zombie, or a vampire, don't worry.

If you're using some more specific element which can be easily related to copyrighted material, you may be in trouble.

You're  free to write a script with snakes and you're free to write a script with planes. But if you write a thriller with snakes on a plane... You get the picture.

If in doubt, stay out.

Quoted from Mr.Z You're  free to write a script with snakes and you're free to write a script with planes. But if you write a thriller with snakes on a plane... You get the picture.

Obviously, Z, you've never heard of The Asylum -- the most shameless production company on the planet.

They toss knockoffs up on the video shelves faster than you can say -- well, let's check out some of last year's titles and see if anything sounds familiar:

666:  The Child
Exorcism:  The Possession of Gail Bowers
Hillside Cannibals
When A Killer Calls
H.G. Wells War of the Worlds
The Da Vinci Treasure
and this one just out -- Snakes on a Train

Use the gun, Pedro.

If these guys aren't wrapped up in copyright battles, I can't imagine what you would have to worry about...

Hey Pedro, don't use my two hamburgers, they are copyrighted! Haha!

alright, thanks a lot all of you!

Yes Master Bert, I'll use the gun!


and Helio! Hail to the Burgers! Hail to the Burgers..

:D

and I just sent the screenplay where that gun appears to Don! :-)

Quoted from bert Obviously, Z, you've never heard of The Asylum -- the most shameless production company on the planet.

Wow! Never heard of them. I was impressed with the list you provided, so I looked them up on imdb and was even more impressed to find an extremely extensive list of “jewels”. Of course I immediately googled this company along with “lawsuit”, and to my surprise didn’t find anything.

So, during some moments of shock, I started having some strange thoughts. Is it safe then to write a thriller with snakes on a plane? Could we all simplyscripters gather all our savings, produce an ultra low budget “Saw 4” or “Saw 5” and make ourselves millionaires? Asylum’s credits might lead people to think that anyone could get away with anything. Something felt wrong with this. So I started digging a bit more.

The War of the Worlds movie is based on a novel which is public domain now. Since copyright has expired, you cannot violate it. The same can be said about “King of the Lost World”, another jewel from this company.

“When a Stranger Calls” is based on a very well known urban legend: http://www.snopes.com/horrors/madmen/babysit.htm

I don’t think this urban legend can be considered public domain, but this is something that could surely help when facing a lawsuit.

Their credit list is too long to check it out entirely, but I wouldn’t be surprised to find other titles taking advantage of public’s domain paradise.

Yet, it’s absolutely clear that many of their movies are based on copyrighted material (i.e. Snakes on a Train). So why can they get away with this so easily? First,  have in mind that getting away with a crime (for whatever reason) doesn’t imply that the action committed isn’t a crime anymore. I cannot know for sure why they can do this (I didn’t even watch any of this company’s movies), but I think I try out a few guesses.

My first guess it’s that this company have their scripts checked by more lawyers than screenwriters. They choose similar titles to known films in order to fool the audience, but they make sure to include a totally different story in the script to avoid being sued. Some of their credits look exactly like that: like stories trying to capitalize on bigger budgets from different movies with similar titles.

As I said, I didn’t watch any of their movies, yet I must assume that many of them have used plot and characters from well known copyrighted material. This wouldn’t be a surprise really. So why isn’t Asylum sued by the big studios? I’ll throw in another guess.

By looking at their credit list, I can see that they distribute their films straight to dvd (mostly), which means no box office from theatres. And judging by the apparent quality of the material distributed, I wouldn’t think their releases could have big grosses. And even if they did, there’s always the chance of making them look small by some creative book keeping (even big studios are famous for doing this).

This seems to be a very small company. The kind of company that couldn’t afford to pay a big lawsuit. Something to think about before wasting your money in lawyers for suing. I just have to wonder: What if Snakes on a Train was being released by a big studio, not Asylum? Wouldn’t New Line do anything about it?

Consider this: Asylum released “The Da Vinci Treasure” without being sued. Yet Dan Brown, author of The Da Vinci Code, has been twice accused of plagiarism resulting in lawsuits. Both suits were ultimately dismissed, but hey, makes you think. Copyright exists. Copyright violations exist. And people willing to pay their lawyers in order to do something about it, exist as well.

So why was Dan Brown sued twice and Asylum not even once? Maybe because Dan Brown is where the big money is. I could be wrong, but that’s my guess.

Another “famous” recent lawsuit was made against “The Island”.
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/news/comments/?entryid=227916

Don’t know what happened with this one, but lawsuits for copyright infringements do exist if you look outside Asylum’s territory.

The above comments are just guesses; I’m far from being a legal expert in the entertainment field.

But one thing is for sure. These guys, Asylum, are not kids imitating their favourite shows. They’re professional rip-offers with an extensive un-sued credit list to prove it. I’m not quite sure how they do this, but you can bet they are; it isn’t just luck.

That’s why I still think it isn’t a good idea putting snakes inside a plane in your next script. Of course there hardly will be any problem if the script is just posted here on simplyscripts. But, for this discussion to make sense, we’ll have to assume that we’re talking about material with box office potential.

As for rpedro’s gun, I’m not familiar with the manga his talking about. Maybe the gun is just a prop. Maybe it’s the equivalent to Frodo’s ring in LOTR. I don’t know. That’s why I tried to point him out some guidelines in order for him to decide. Altough… looking back at this thread, it seems like he had already made a decision and just came here looking for someone to confirm it.

What I know about copyrights and such is that you can copyright a story, plot, and characters, but not an idea. You can use an idea and redo it. There are multiple examples of this and The Asylum does provide more than a few. My favorite big budget example involves the summer of 1998: Armageddon and Deep Impact. These movies have exactly the same premise, but follow it in different ways.

I've seen both The Island and Clonus and when I saw the trailer for The Island, I immediately related it to Clonus. When I saw The Island, I was surprised at just how similar the two films were. The lawsuit comes as no surprise. It's not the idea that's in dispute, according to the article Mr. Z  posted, it's the 90 specific instances. Those are the plot points and characters that appear to be lifted. The screenwriter probably saw Clonus some time ago and forgot about it.

Most of the items in the Star Wars universe are trademarked. That's a different matter altogether. Believe it or not, you could probably use a lightsaber if it wasn't a trademarked item. However, Lucasfilm has pretty much everything in the Star Wars universe with a little TM after it. That TM prevents anyone from using it in anything. Do I have something to prove this? Yup. Let's talk rings.

Frodo's/Sauron's magic ring is not in any way unique in the fantasy world. It's the most famous, but not unique. Tolkien based a huge part of his universe on an older work called The Ring of the Nibelung, which is a 12 hour opera cycle by Richard Wagner that came out in the late 19th century in 4 parts. The second part of this opera cycle is the source of the ultra-famous "Ride of the Valkyries" music. The story follows a ring that gave the wearer power over whatever and people killed over this ring. Wagner based this story on yet older mythology.

But the ring doesn't end at Tolkien's imagination. Stephen Donaldson used the wedding ring of Thomas Covenant as a source of power due to it being made of white gold in The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. Covenant found himself in another world called simply "The Land" and his possession of a ring of white gold gave him immeasurable power that he didn't know how to use and didn't want. He didn't care because he didn't believe The Land was real and even in the end, it's not a certainty of the Land's reality. The tale was more based around the world than the ring, but the ring still played a central part.

If it's a common item, then copyright is not an issue, and trademark likely isn't either. If it's something specific to a universe, such as the lightsaber, the item is likely trademarked and you can't use it.

Quoted from George Willson What I know about copyrights and such is that you can copyright a story, plot, and characters, but not an idea. You can use an idea and redo it. There are multiple examples of this and The Asylum does provide more than a few. My favorite big budget example involves the summer of 1998: Armageddon and Deep Impact. These movies have exactly the same premise, but follow it in different ways.

I don't think that one of these movies was copying another but, rather, they were both based on the meteor scare that was all over the news in the two or three years before the movies came out.


Phil

Since the previous post, I've found a bit of a guilty pleasure in The Asylum. The films tend to have similar titles and even similar marketing for the sake of marketing, but the take on the material is actualy quite different. I watched their War of the Worlds the other day, and the lead was actually more endearing than Tom Cruise. Gore hounds will probably appreciate their versions of everything more than the main stream stuff, since they have a sort of "no holds barred" approach to filmmaking. I would actually recommend having a look. Netflix has a fair supply of Asylum films.

So I'm busy working on the third draft of a script of mine called Crazy for Her (this is the WIP thread if interested: http://www.simplyscripts.net/cgi-bin/Blah/Blah.pl?b-workinprogress/m-1160092032/; hey, why not advertize), and I'm considering entering the finished draft to a screenwriting competition.

Here is my question. My script tells the story of a high school drama director and his students/actors. A Broadway show is used continuously throughout the script, i.e. songs from the show are song, dialogue is spoken, but none of it has to do with the story. It's just there as background noise and scene introductions. If I were to enter the script in a competition could I get in trouble for using someone else work? It's just a competetion, and I'm entering to get feedback and maybe see how I stuck up against others. I don't plan on selling the thing any time soon (maybe in the future).

Should I get permission from whoever owns the rights to the show? Are they going to make me pay when all I want is to use this for a competition?

This might be an unanswerable question. I doubt other have had the same problem. Maybe. Thanks in advance to any help given

Quoted from Jdawg2006 So I'm busy working on the third draft of a script of mine called Crazy for Her (this is the WIP thread if interested: http://www.simplyscripts.net/cgi-bin/Blah/Blah.pl?b-workinprogress/m-1160092032/; hey, why not advertize), and I'm considering entering the finished draft to a screenwriting competition. Here is my question. My script tells the story of a high school drama director and his students/actors. A Broadway show is used continuously throughout the script, i.e. songs from the show are song, dialogue is spoken, but none of it has to do with the story. It's just there as background noise and scene introductions. If I were to enter the script in a competition could I get in trouble for using someone else work? It's just a competetion, and I'm entering to get feedback and maybe see how I stuck up against others. I don't plan on selling the thing any time soon (maybe in the future). Should I get permission from whoever owns the rights to the show? Are they going to make me pay when all I want is to use this for a competition? This might be an unanswerable question. I doubt other have had the same problem. Maybe. Thanks in advance to any help given

Without having read it, I would say you are in a very grey area and thte readers in the competitions may hold it against you.

Is it possible to make up your own Broadway show?


Phil

If it's just there for background noise and whatnot, then, as Phil said, why don't you just make up your own?  You can write something like:

INT.  THEATER - NIGHT

A glamorous Broadway-esque play blah blah blah

And if you're looking for feedback, then you probably shouldn't be entering it into a competition.  People enter their stuff into competitions to win and getting their work out there.  

And hey, this site gives great feedback! =D

Hmm, I should have been more specific. The MAJORITY of the music and dialogue is back ground noise, but the characters do sing four songs from the show, and three of them play a pretty significant part to story development. My title, Crazy for Her, also plays off of the musical's title, Crazy for You.

Quoted from Greg And hey, this site gives great feedback!

I know this site give incredible feedback, and I plan on posting the finished draft as soon as I complete it (well, probably not AS soon as I complete it). When I finished the first two drafts, I already had so much I wanted to change that I just dove right into re-writes. This time, after I finish, I take a break and let others tell me what I should change.

Quoted from Greg And if you're looking for feedback, then you probably shouldn't be entering it into a competition.  People enter their stuff into competitions to win and getting their work out there.

Well, winning a screenwriting competition prize doens't sound too bad to me. I just want to enter one to say that I've entered one and also to see how I do. Plus, a few of the competitions I've researched also give feedback. The more feedback the better.

I think that if someone wants to produce it, then they will get it okay'd to be included in your movie. And if someone wants to produce it, and it's that big of a pain to them, well, they'll cut that part and have it rewrote.

As for being sued, I don't think so. I mean you're just entering it into a contest...

Did you write the play "verbatum" in your script? Did you put the play in a bad light, make it look really bad? Like having people boo at it. Tell lies about it?
I think that is how you would get sued. To be on the safe side you might want to consult an entertainment attorney.

Cindy

No, no booing. The focus isn't really on the play ever, other than it's about two teenagers who do whatever it takes to ditch their minor parts and take on the leads of the show. The play is actually rarely discussed, I just don't feel like I can take out the play or switch plays because the songs I use play an important role in the story.

Anything can be changed and pastiches of the songs you find integral to your story can be created. One of the stipulations of screenwriting competitions is that you own the work you're submitting. This is definitely a grey area since you own the story, but have elements that require rights to be acquired. I suppose the best thing to look at is what the outcome of the script would be if it won. Whether you think it will or not is irrelevant; if the outcome could cause some stickiness between you and them, change those elements or get permission from the rights holder to have those songs included. You may or may not have to pay for them to be included in your script while you shop it, but remember that a screenplay competition is potentially being paid for it, and if their stuff contributes to some form of payment, they may want a cut. It is grey, for sure, and you might also just ask the people in charge of the competition if it's ok. They're the ones who have the biggest chance of getting into trouble over it. If they say no, don't do it.

Maybe you can find something out here:

http://www.marklitwak.com/faq/music.html

Change a few minor details, after all this is supposed to be a spec script yes? So in the end the writer has no control over where a certain scene is shot!! Things change from scene to scene and writer to writer and director... So while this is only for a competition I would change a few details.

True story...

My favorite car is the Camaro and I wanted to use Camaro in one of my screenplays.  I simply wrote Chevrolet, explaining my story and wanted to use that name in my story.  It actually went through lawyers and such and it took nearly a month to hear back from them.  

Basically I got an email saying that I can legally use Camaro in my screenplay.  They were really nice about it.  I still have this email if anyone would like to read it.  

Now when it comes to songs that will probably end up being the director's discretion.  But other things, if you just simply want to use a name and shoot them an email, maybe send them a treatment of your story, usually they will allow you to do it as in my case.

My story involves the Camaro and it is important to the story that is why I wanted to use that name and thankfully they said I could.  It is better than to try than to put something in there that would get you sued.  I really believe they will comply on most things.  

Just thought I would share that.

I'm sorry.  My email and phone call was with General Motors.

The general rule is to leave song titles out of the script.  Directors usually put the songs in that they like and if you mention one that he doesn't like, it's a strike against you.



Phil

True.  I have never used a song title at all. I never put in any songs.  But I have read unproduced scripts that mention songs.  It can be a bad thing unless you yourself are the Director.

I think it's okay to mention a song.  If a character says, "They played Stairway to Heaven three times today on the radio," that shouldn't be a problem.  Including the song in the script is anothter thing.



Phil