Copyright question. A scene inspired from another film.

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NatalieOshea

So there's this scene I wrote in my script -- Jason and Eric agree to meet up at this warehouse. It starts off a friendly conversation and then it turns into an argument when it's established that Eric betrayed Jason. So Jason grabs out a gun and shoots Eric in the stomach three times. Jason goes up to Eric, who is lying on the floor, and looks down at him. Angry, Eric goes, "You motherf**ker!" But then Jason shoots him a few more times, killing him.

That scene is inspired by a scene from the 2005 film Four Brothers -- Detective Greene and Detective Fowler are at the bar and Greene suspects that Fowler is a crooked cop, so Greene takes Fowler's gun and badge and leaves to get into his car, but Fowler follows him out (Greene doesn't know Fowler had a second gun) and SHOOTS Greene three times... Angry, Greene goes, "You motherf**ker!" But then Fowler shoots him a few more times, killing him.

In any case, could Paramount sue us for copying that scene? I really like that scene in Four Brothers and think it wouldn't look bad in my film too but we don't wanna get sued, but it is in my script.
 
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I will keep all laws away and just ask you a question.


You are just a guy making short films for what ? Youtube / Vimeo ? Do you think Paramount will take the time to sue you ? Do you think PARAMOUNT gives a damn about your movie ?


And no , they can't sue you for doing this .
 
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RED ROBOT said:
You are just a guy making short films for what ? Youtube / Vimeo ?
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Well, actually I'm a girl making a feature-length film. I thought my username Natalie O'Shea made it obvious but that's all right.

RED ROBOT said:
And no , they can't sue you for doing this . Do you think Paramount will take the time to sue you ? Do you think PARAMOUNT gives a damn about your movie ?
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Well, I mean they might. But better safe than sorry. I just thought I see if it'd be safe to do it.
 
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NatalieOshea said:
Well, actually I'm a girl making a feature-length film. I thought my username Natalie O'Shea made it obvious but that's all right.



Well, I mean they might. But better safe than sorry. I just thought I see if it'd be safe to do it.
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Sorry . I didn't looked at your name .

But really in my opinion nobody is going to sue you . I am sure the more knowledgeable users will say the same too.
 
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NatalieOshea said:
In any case, could Paramount sue us for copying that scene? I really like that scene in Four Brothers and think it wouldn't look bad in my film too but we don't wanna get sued, but it is in my script.
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Two things:

First, why copy a scene from an established film? Why not come up with something different/better/more original? I'm asking these as serious questions, not rhetoricals. If you have reasons, great. But if you don't, I'd reconsider.

Second, could they sue you? Sure. Anyone can sue anyone for just about anything. Would it hold up in court? Maybe. They could bury you in legal costs and basically force you to give up.

What's more likely to happen, though, (if anyone at Paramount sees your film and they decide they think it's a copyright infringement) is that you'll be sent a cease and desist letter, and that will mean no distributor/website/etc. is going to touch your film. So you'll be left with a film that no one will ever see.
 
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cameronchapman said:
Two things:

First, why copy a scene from an established film? Why not come up with something different/better/more original? I'm asking these as serious questions, not rhetoricals. If you have reasons, great. But if you don't, I'd reconsider.

Second, could they sue you? Sure. Anyone can sue anyone for just about anything. Would it hold up in court? Maybe. They could bury you in legal costs and basically force you to give up.

What's more likely to happen, though, (if anyone at Paramount sees your film and they decide they think it's a copyright infringement) is that you'll be sent a cease and desist letter, and that will mean no distributor/website/etc. is going to touch your film. So you'll be left with a film that no one will ever see.
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+1
 
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The chances of Paramount seeing this movie are 0/0.
Such a generic scene is highly unlikely to raise any copyright hassle anyways,but I do agree with the above posters that copying is kinda meh
 
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You can't copyright an idea. Sounds like a really generic idea that has played out in lots of movies. Copyrights are violated every day on YouTube anyway. Nobody is suing anyone. Just take down notices.
 
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cameronchapman said:
What's more likely to happen, though, (if anyone at Paramount sees your film and they decide they think it's a copyright infringement) is that you'll be sent a cease and desist letter, and that will mean no distributor/website/etc. is going to touch your film. So you'll be left with a film that no one will ever see.
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It'll get caught up before it gets to this point. It'll get snagged in the E&O Stage. To get distribution, you need E&O. If you've breached copyright, you won't get E&O. Of course, this assumes you're not just uploading to Youtube and avoiding the requirement for E&O.

In any case, could Paramount sue us for copying that scene?
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A). As Chapman said, they can sue, even if you did nothing wrong. It's the American dream!
B). It depends on what you mean by copying that scene. If you're going to copy it word for word, then yes, you're breaching copyright, willfully. Whether they'll care is up to them.
 
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RED ROBOT said:
But really in my opinion nobody is going to sue you . I am sure the more knowledgeable users will say the same too.
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On the other hand, in the United States, anybody can sue anyone for anything. The trick is to make it difficult as possible for anyone to sue you. In your case, you're setting yourself WIDE OPEN for one. To win a lawsuit, Paramount has to show they routinely crack down people stealing their intellectual property.

In many cases, the people saying you 'won't get sued' have never been sued or subject to a lawsuit. They also likely do not have anything to lose if a lawsuit comes their way. People with money, families, etc, they will go out of their way to protect their assets and do not paint targets on their butts/

Good luck.
 
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If you copy the dialog, you are violating copyright. If you do it while, essentially, re-enacting the scene, you are doing so in a more egregious manner. Could it get you sued? Hell yes. Will it? Probably not, but I wouldn't risk it. Just change the way you accomplish the same effect. Remember that it is an emotion that you are trying to make your audience feel. There are limitless ways in which to make someone feel.
 
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If I had a scene where a character gets stabbed in the stomach with a knife, the character staggers around with his eyes wide open moaning while the stabber says "die motherfucker!" .....how many movies would I find this same scenario?

However, same exact scene, except the character is stabbed with a swordfish instead of a knife ...now anyone doing the same type of scene may find themselves dealing with a copyright issue.

It all depends on what's going on in the scene and any elements that would make it unique.

-Birdman
 
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NatalieOshea said:
That scene is inspired by a scene from the 2005 film Four Brothers -- Detective Greene and Detective Fowler are at the bar and Greene suspects that Fowler is a crooked cop, so Greene takes Fowler's gun and badge and leaves to get into his car, but Fowler follows him out (Greene doesn't know Fowler had a second gun) and SHOOTS Greene three times... Angry, Greene goes, "You motherf**ker!" But then Fowler shoots him a few more times, killing him.

In any case, could Paramount sue us for copying that scene? I really like that scene in Four Brothers and think it wouldn't look bad in my film too but we don't wanna get sued, but it is in my script.
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So there's a big difference between inspired by and derived from. The dialog "you motherfucker" is likely not protected by copyright simply because it's too generic and short, with little creativity. It's probably not possible to use any sort of fair use defense, though. But as far as copyright, it sounds like the scene is highly transformative despite being the same medium. They aren't cops, the gun came from a different place, the entire everything is different. Lucasarts can't sue everyone that happens to use a glowing sword, either.
 
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