borrowing characters copyright.

dlevanchuk

dlevanchuk

I have a short movie idea, that is based off the comic book character. Sort of like continuation of characters life..

Would it be a copyright issue to use the characters, which were created previously?

For example, if we will take vinnie the pooh, and make a short mvie how vinnie got tired of his pig friend, and made a bacon out of him.. would that be something that I will be able to send to film festivals, or will I need to have some sort of writte character release form?
 
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That would be a copyright violation. You'd be creating a derivative work based on a copyright work, which can't be done without permission. You'd need to license the characters from the copyright owner, which can get very expensive.
 
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Just a thought...

It were "Vinnie the Pooh" and he was played as a gangster bear, who did whack his pig friend to turn him into bacon, surely that would be okay? I know the name's close, but wouldn't this be classed as a parody, therefore, okay?
 
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That was what I was thinking. You can do a parody of a
character, you can use the actual character.

dlevanchuk, do you have any ideas for a short action movie
with a character YOU create?
 
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The other option is the "thinly veiled representation". I don't know how shakey legal ground you'd be on, but if you create an original character that is recognizable, yet distinct from a copyrighted character, I think that will fall under fair use and parody. Examples off the top of my head:
Galaxy Quest. It's not Star Trek, but the characters ARE parodies of the original cast (and the actors themselves; Alan Rickman is more playing a parody of himself than Leonard Nemoy).
The Watchmen. Conceived as exactly your concept applied to Charlton Comics characters. The editor at the time convinced Moore to use original characters instead (more for not derailing those characters than for rights issues), and Moore admitted that made for a more powerful story. Even still, if you know the Charlton characters, they're quite recognizable.
The Venture Brothers (ep Viva los Muertos): There's a very clear parody of the Scooby Doo gang. The show has, in other episodes, aquired rights (Race Bannon from Johnny Quest, Steve Austin, etc), but in cases where they push the parody too far, they just create recognizable original characters. The series also features Action Johnny, clearly Johnny Quest but a strung out junky version of him.

Anyway, I Am Not A Lawyer, and exactly this sort of situation is why Disney and the Lawyers from the Carribean keep messing with copyright law (notably when Mickey Mouse was just about to fall into the Public Domain).
 
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I too had an idea for maybe:) using a character from a previous work of fiction. How much would that cost to get permission if it was a famous character? As for your dilemma, can you use the same continuation story, but with your own superhero instead?
 
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