Hi, like the title says are the characters copyrighted automatically when you write a script? I was going to copyright some superheroes I came up with but I found out it takes about a year to get an official notification from the US Copyright office so I thought that I should use them in a short screenplay and register it. Would that protect them?
Are Characters in a script copyrighted?
- Thread starter BrownwriterChi
- Start date
You need more than just a script to protect super heor characters, if you have a specific look for the characters you wish to protect as well. You will need detailed full color illustrations copyrighted as well. And, you may want to get them trademarked like the comic book companies do too.
What is it about the characters that you want to copyright? The way they look? What they say?
Maybe I was misinformed, but isn't anything you put online technically copyrighted?
Yes and no. A story you write, yes. A character you just now invent, lets say Super Yoga Woman, no. You'd have to get a trade mark for that.
Somebody can copy the character and give it different dialogue. But they can't use dialogue written by you. Ideas cannot be copyright protected.
Somebody can copy the character and give it different dialogue. But they can't use dialogue written by you. Ideas cannot be copyright protected.
Even if the character I create in script/short movie/selfpublished comic/online blog is so distinguished that it's obviously a theft if somebody else is useing it in their work?
If I make a new sequel for Indiana Jones bymyself in my own production the way I like it, do I need to pay to speilberg/lucas for usage of Harrison Ford's character?
What does trademarking involves in US?
If I make a new sequel for Indiana Jones bymyself in my own production the way I like it, do I need to pay to speilberg/lucas for usage of Harrison Ford's character?
What does trademarking involves in US?
http://www.ivanhoffman.com/characters.html
Interesting read here. Under the "copyright" section there is an interesting court case involving Todd McFarlane and Neil Gaiman regarding ownership of a character.
You could not make an Indiana Jones movie. You can, however, make a movie about a rogueish archeologist/adventurer with a fedora and a whip called Topeka Smith.
Interesting read here. Under the "copyright" section there is an interesting court case involving Todd McFarlane and Neil Gaiman regarding ownership of a character.
You could not make an Indiana Jones movie. You can, however, make a movie about a rogueish archeologist/adventurer with a fedora and a whip called Topeka Smith.
In that case you need a trademark not the copyright. What is
"obviously theft" and what is legally theft are quite different.
Let's use GuerrillaAngel's Super Yoga Woman as an example;
You can trademark the costume and hairstyle and the name
as it is connected to the script/short movie/selfpublished comic/
online blog. But you cannot hold the copyright on the three
words. Anyone can still create a woman who is "super" in yoga.
Josh is correct. If speilberg/lucas were to agree to license the Jones
character to you you would have to pay them. You would not be
violating copyright or trademark if you had a lawyer in a suit
working in Chicago who's name was Indiana Jones. It is the total
combination that would get you into trouble. Even if you changed
very little (say you took away the whip and the Fedora) you could
still face legal issues.
Josh posted a great link; "allows the use of a mark in such a way
as to not lead to such confusion in the minds of the public." If your
use leads people to believe they are watching the LucasFilm character
then you are in violation. If no reasonable person can be confused
by your character you are likely to be in the clear.
You also often can't trademark things that are too generic. I suspect you would have trouble getting a trademark up front for something like "Super Yoga Woman" because it's a natural combination of three common words that can be considered a description of the character - she's a superhero, and a woman, and she does yoga. The only way to get a trademark for something descriptive like that is to actually use it and build a brand around it so that you could prove that the general public is likely to associate that particular phrase with your product.
