Thursday, November 01, 2012
Faulkner Estate Sues Sony Pictures Because Owen Wilson Quoted Nine Words (Incorrectly)
Techdirt: Wow. We've heard about all sorts of crazy copyright lawsuits, but every so often you get one that just makes you sit back and wonder at the amazing chutzpah it must have taken for a lawyer to actually go forward and file a case. This is one of those times. The estate of William Faulkner, Faulkner Literary Rights LLC, has sued Sony Pictures Classics and a bunch of movie distributors over the Woody Allen movie Midnight in Paris.
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4 comments:
I'm a little confused about the issue here. Are we not allowed to quote authors anymore? Never mind that this is not in fact a quote but a paraphrasing of an idea, the line from the movie actually credits Faulkner with the genesis of the idea. And let's be honest about that too: does the Faulkner Estate seriously believe that no one other than William Faulkner has ever had the idea that "The past is not Dead?" I think I wrote that on the side of my Converse All Star sneakers in eighth grade, right next to some Morrissey lyrics. Oh no!! I just realized I could be liable for copyright infringement! Now I've done it. Excuse me while I go burn my shoes and lawyer up. Maybe it's just because I've never had an idea anyone would want to steal, but I hope if I ever do, I will be happy to share it with the world, and will appreciate any reproduction as a validation of its merit, and not simply as an opportunity for my LLC to pad its portfolio.
I need to talk to a IP Rights expert. This seems like perfectly good use to me. I am glad the Faulkner estate is getting some good press from this. Make no mistakes, it is not free press. I cannot imagine them winning this, it would set a serious precedent that would be very hard to enforce, especially retroactively. I am not sure what they hope to prove. They should be proud to be referenced.
Based on this I retract my comment from last week where I quoted Hitchcock, that might not be acceptable. But in all seriousness this far outweighs the issue seen in the article about the lawsuit over the rights to the Godfather films earlier this semester. Yes they are different circumstances but if the Faulkner Estate gains any ground on this that could have some serious impacts on the film industry in the future.
I'm not entirely sure, but would this count as fair use? It doesn't even seem as though they have a case here. I agree with everyone else about this having incredibly harmful ramifications if the Faulkner Estate manages to win any of these complaints. I also feel like it is situations like this that lead to America being famous for suing people at the drop of a hat.
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