Monday, February 17, 2020
Court Allows Chooseco's Lawsuit Against Netflix Over 'Bandersnatch' To Move Forward
Techdirt: You will recall our previous posts about Chooseco, the company behind those "Choose Your Own Adventure" books from the 80s, and its lawsuit against Netflix. At issue is Netflix's Black Mirror iteration entitled Bandersnatch. The episode essentially runs a choose your own adventure scenario in streaming film, with the viewer being able to control the outcome of the narrative through choice.
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2 comments:
Choose your own adventure shouldn't be something that is copyrighted. It is so strange that the idea of having an interactive experience, wether being a book, video game, or movie, is an idea owned by a company popular in the 80s. That's like saying our decisions in life are the idea of this company called Chooseco. I'm sure Netflix didn't expect this lawsuit to happen from making an interactive movie. In the article it mentions that Netflix does reference specifically "choose your own adventure", which is highly similar to Chooseco's "choose your own adventure books" but those are words that anyone might use in a sentence when talking about multiple options. I can't imagine what it is like being Chooseco and trying to get as much money out of Netflix as possible. It just seem silly when they are arguing that Netflix copied their million dollar idea to create a adventure story where the audience gets to choose different outcomes for unique endings.
I am going to echo Pablo’s above comment. The concept and production of ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ should not be copyrighted. I understand that the original company wants to reap benefits from a similar concept, but they can’t hold dominion over an entire premise. Bandersnatch was such an interesting interpretation of the Choose Your Own Adventure world. Those books were a big part of my childhood and copyright law is something that is constantly being tested. However, while I acknowledge the beginning of the capitalization on this idea by that company, Bandersnatch was a creative exploration and expanding of the medium. It was interesting that the article mentioned that “The court reached the same conclusion on Netflix's claim that its use was Fair Use. Essentially, the court has decided that Chooseco's suit is worth at least the discovery phase of a trial.” These seem like conflicting ideas to me.
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