Thursday, March 14, 2013
The Insanity Of Making A 'Wizard Of Oz' Film In Today's IP Climate
Techdirt: It's always tough to root for the underdog when neither of the involved parties deserves that title. So, rather than pick one, we'll just discuss the overweening ridiculousness of copyright law. It's a subject that never goes out of style, thanks to our legislators' willingness to continually extend copyright protection terms.
As was covered much earlier in the year, Disney is producing its own "Wizard of Oz" movie, titled "Oz the Great and Powerful." While Frank L. Baum's books are definitely in the public domain, filmed depictions of Baum's characters are mainly the property of Warner Bros. WB attempted to head off this incursion into its domain by filing a trademark application on "The Great and Powerful Oz," but it was a week too late and is now (presumably) several billion dollars short (H'Wood mathematics, yo).
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5 comments:
I think this subject in theatre and film is extremely interesting. I think of this as a form of risk management. The stakes are high and the companies making films are simply trying their hardest to not get sued and or lose a lawsuit. I think that in cases like this regarding copyright so much of this is subjective one judge may feel that a particular shade of green is breaking copyright on a character while another may think nothing of the sort. I personally would never want to take on the job of making decisions if something is different enough because if it is decided it isn't that responsibility falls directly on your shoulders.
I feel like every time I read an article about some new copyright debate I learn some new obscure detail about the law. I had no idea that once characters and the original works were in the public domain interpretations were still protected. It seems a little silly that Warner Bros can claim copyright on their specific interpretation of something when its based on an existing story. Design choices they make on their own I can kind of see, but the witch is green in the book the fact that Disney had to change the shade is a little silly. At the same time it is fun to see Disney struggling with copyright after all the unnecessary lawsuits they have filed. Although with the money both sides are spending on lawyers and the extremely small chance that the movie gets stopped, it seems that both sides are just wasting absurd amounts of money.
I agree with Isaac that this particular copyright battle seems a little excessive. The smallest details that have to be changed because WBs is watching so closely seem so petty to me that it really seems like a pissing contest over who's the bigger name and who has more power. The amount of money, like Isaac said, that is being spent on these lawyers is ridiculous especially because it could be used to make the movie better, or make other projects better, and it's not even like Disney is remaking The Wizard of Oz, they are writing a different story. Also, as a fan of the original movie, I am terrified to see the new movie because I don't want the world of Oz to change. I bet if the movie actually resembled the original, it would make more money. (Which I just realized is probably Warner Brother's motive in the lawsuit... pissing contest indeed)
As much as this legal battle seems utterly ridiculous, there is a point in that, from what I can tell from my limited knowledge of the original books and the original movie, Oz the Great and Powerful is in many ways much more of a prequel to the original Wizard of Oz movie than it is to any of the Oz books in the public domain. As such, Warner Brothers might have a small case in protecting their copyright. but quibbling over the shade of green the Wicked Witch of the West is is just ridiculous
If the books are in the public domain, then the characters and plot in the Great and Powerful Oz should be fine. I understand that the plot itself is a prequel to The Wizard of Oz, and as long as the story is different from Wicked, which I am pretty sure it is, the movie should again be fine. However, this subject makes me wonder. If a book is in the public domain, and there are specific descriptions of characters (how they dress, etc) and a film uses the descriptions and copyrights the designs, are the descriptions of the characters from the book now copyrighted? I find this a very gray area, including many other copyright subjects.
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