A question about copyright.

Rawky

Rawky

If I were to have one of my characters, in my own film, quote a famous (or even no-famous) line from a film would that be infringement?

For instance I have one character trying to teach another character how to say 'Who is your Daddy, and what does he do?' from the film Kindergarten Cop. The film title is not initially mentioned, but would it have to be to bypass the laws? Or is it something I shouldn't include unless I get permission? (which I know I couldn't).

Would it be the same to talk about famous people, even just mentioning their names?

Thanks in advance.

Rawky.
 
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You'll be fine, quoting part of a film is not copyright infringement; added to which, that quote is not so atypical as to only be attributed to that one film - it's the kind of thing people say every day. You can talk about and name drop whoever you like, but any libellous comments could be met with a lawsuit - as long as you weren't planning to make malicious and false statements about people, there's nothing to worry about.
 
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chili pie... does that still apply for things that are trademarked... like YOUR FIRED from donald trump... you would have to pay him money every time you use that i believe...

you just need to make sure its not trademarked i am pretty sure that one from kindergarden cop is not trade marked... but you need to be sure...
 
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licenseless said:
chili pie... does that still apply for things that are trademarked... like YOUR FIRED from donald trump... you would have to pay him money every time you use that i believe...
Click to expand...

Another "Urban Legend".

I love how they spread from a joke to something people
believe is true. No. An employer who says to an employee
"You're fired" does not have to pay Trump. A writer who
writes a scene on a movie where an employer says it when
firing a character does not have to pay Trump. A common
phrase cannot be copyrighted or trademarked.

Legally one can trademark (or servicemark) a phrase that
identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods (or service)
of one party from those of others. So Trump has trademarked
that phrase only in direct connection with a specific type of reality
television show.
 
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directorik said:
Another "Urban Legend".

I love how they spread from a joke to something people
believe is true. No. An employer who says to an employee
"You're fired" does not have to pay Trump. A writer who
writes a scene on a movie where an employer says it when
firing a character does not have to pay Trump. A common
phrase cannot be copyrighted or trademarked.

Legally one can trademark (or servicemark) a phrase that
identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods (or service)
of one party from those of others. So Trump has trademarked
that phrase only in direct connection with a specific type of reality
television show.
Click to expand...

no but if you say your fired in anything that has monotary gain... ie a movie a commercial then yes... you do have to pay donald trump
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump
In 2003, Trump became the executive producer and host of the NBC reality show, The Apprentice, in which a group of competitors battled for a high-level management job in one of Trump's commercial enterprises. The other contestants were successively "fired" and eliminated from the game. In 2004, Donald Trump filed a trademark application for the catchphrase "You're fired".[2][3][4]
Click to expand...
http://www.usatoday.com/money/media/2004-03-19-youre-fired_x.htm
Trump might have competition: A search of the PTO's database revealed that three other applications for "You're fired" have been filed.
Click to expand...

and its not in snopes
hahahahahahah

weither trump filed or not... i dont know... but its still in wiki... and has been for years... its possible it was turned down because it is to common... but the most common song in the us is copy written still to this day and possible until 2016 or 2030... its wiki also

and its why when you go eat at chilis or out back and they come to sing happy birthday to you... they dont sing happy birthday to you... they sing something they have made up...

you can trade mark anything if you want to spend enough money on it...

and i think you are misunderstanding the laws on what happens with a trademark... or a copy write...

anyone can fire there employee and say... youre fired... hell i can keep saying it right now... youre fired

and i can sit here and type out the words to happy birthday

nothing will come of it

BUT... the moment i try to use it for monotary gain... like i put it on a t-shirt and tried to sell it... or i put it in a movie as a catch phrase and sell the movie... I CAN BE SUED...

trade marks are not something to joke about... and common law trademarks are a pain because you cant really look it up to see... i would hate for this guy to use a qoute... then submit this to a film festival and win something...

and then have some lawyers breathing down his/her neck because they are infringing on there trademark

not an urban myth bro ham... sorry
 
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licenseless said:
and its why when you go eat at chilis or out back and they come to sing happy birthday to you... they dont sing happy birthday to you... they sing something they have made up...

you can trade mark anything if you want to spend enough money on it...
and i think you are misunderstanding the laws on what happens with a trademark... or a copy write...
Click to expand...
You are combining two different things - copyright (not copy write)
and trademark. A common mistake. The song written by Patty Hill
and Mildred J. Hill is protected by copyright. The phrase "You're Fired"
is protected by a trademark.

You can say the phrase in a movie - even a movie for profit. You cannot
use it in context with a reality TV show. You can say "Happy Birthday" in
a movie - even a movie for profit. You cannot have a character sing the
song.
 
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blah... so with a trade marked slogan that is extremely common you have to designate its purpose out to what the slogan can be used with.

i guess that makes more since. i honestly try to avoid any of it because lawyers scare me haahahahahah

and believe me 2001... im far from warm... i dont get heated easy... at all...

i just stated in another post that i dont believe any of you could understand were i come from until you meet me... its just who i am... a happy hyper 5 year old in a grown mans body hahahahahaha so trust me...this is just me sitting queitly in my office at work waiting for shit to break and keeping my sanity at 3:20 in the morning on a forum chatting about my hobbies...

as a matter of fact i have 3 sites open doing the same thing between all of them hahahahahahaha
homebrewtalk
innersanctum
and this hahahaha

but i am still confused on the trademark...

so if you guys dont mind me delving more into this topic...

if some one says a quote in a movie... you can re quote it in another movie as long as you are saying it as a "quote" but not if you are using it in the same context...

and director ik... please dont spell check me... thats what firefox does... and i dont feel to ask it to do it so why would i ask you hahahahahahaahahahahahaha sorry that was funny... i dont honestly mean it... i just thought it was funny
 
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licenseless said:
and director ik... please dont spell check me... thats what firefox does... and i dont feel to ask it to do it so why would i ask you hahahahahahaahahahahahaha sorry that was funny... i dont honestly mean it... i just thought it was funny
Click to expand...
I'm not spell checking you. You used an incorrect term - copy write
is different than copyright. You spelled the incorrect term correctly.

licenseless said:
but i am still confused on the trademark...

so if you guys dont mind me delving more into this topic...

if some one says a quote in a movie... you can re quote it in another movie as long as you are saying it as a "quote" but not if you are using it in the same context...
Click to expand...
Using "You're Fired" as an example; yes, you can use that phrase in
a movie. If you were to create a TV show where a boss fired people
and used it, that's were you would run into issues with Trump. Even
his attempt to prohibit that phrase on t-shirts has failed. He tries to
stop it, but the phrase is too "common" to completely stop its use.

The phrase "Who is your Daddy" and even "Who's yo Daddy" can be
used in a movie. The line, "Who is your Daddy, and what does he do?"
is in a copyrighted script, but that does not mean every combination
of words used in that script can never be used again.

Product and service trade (and service) marks cannot be used in a
competing trade or service. For example, McDonald's has the trademark
on "i'm lovin' it". So if you opened a hamburger (or any food) stand
you couldn't use it. However, you can have a character in a movie say,
"I'm lovin' it."
 
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directorik said:
The phrase "Who is your Daddy" and even "Who's yo Daddy" can be
used in a movie. The line, "Who is your Daddy, and what does he do?"
is in a copyrighted script, but that does not mean every combination
of words used in that script can never be used again.
Click to expand...

so your saying "who is your daddy, and what does he do?" could be used ... i guess that makes since considering how many parodies were done with the black leather jacket and black shades and some one saying "i'll be back"

makes more since...

thats why i asked chili in the first place... because i didnt understand
 
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An excellent example; "I'll be back" is too common to be trademarked.

Then there's "May the Force be with you." That isn't so common a term
so LucasFilm does attempt to enforce its rights. Even then they have to
prove the use of the phrase is “likely to cause confusion, or to cause mistake,
or to deceive”. So a character saying it in a script is very likely to be acceptable.
 
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