If you are a creative or business-minded individual already
established in the entertainment industry; you’re hopefully making good money.
If you have some sort of affiliation with a successful project, then you're probably trying to get a cut of the action. If these individuals deserve a
cut or not, who’s to blame them for trying to cash in, if they think they
can.
When licensing or using the intellectual property of someone
else, regardless of what rights you believe you have with it, there will always
be discrepancies, depending on how profitable you become with the property.
Beginning in 2001 JRR Tolkien’s books had been brought to
life through a franchise of Oscar winning films produced by New Line Cinema and
Warner Brothers studios.
Priscilla Anne Reuel Tolkien (83) is the youngest of JRR
Tolkien children, JRR Tolkien whom you know as the author of the “The Hobbit”
and “Lord of the Rings trilogy”.
Representing the Tolkien estate, Priscilla had filed a
lawsuit in late November 2012, against Warner brothers studios and New lines
Cinema, stating they had breached an agreement made in a 1969 contract with
United Artist. The contract sold off the rights of Tolkien’s stories and characters
to be made into motion pictures and allowing licensee to make and distribute
tangible merchandise, such as toys and clothing.
The suit is demanding compensation of 50 million pounds ($80
million dollars), due to defiling the Tolkien name with morally questionable
digital marketing, through distribution of digital games but more specifically
online gambling games utilizing Tolkien’s beloved world and characters.
The 1969 contract only gave permission for licensees to
merchandise tangible goods and not digital gaming.
In 1990 Tim Berners-Lee the creator of HTML, majorly
contributed to the creations and public access to the Internet. The contract
between Tolkien and the Major motion picture companies was made in 1969, and
the Internet was not established until the 90’s. How can such a claim be made,
that the film industry purposely ignored a copyright infringement, when the
infringement was under special circumstance and not real-time factor during the
writing of the contract? The Tolkien estate has made a good claim, and should
continue to receive their 7.5 percent royalty from what ever monies are gross
from the Middle earth world, but saying that their was a breach in contract is
a bit far fetched.
Another legal liability in the entertainment industry is
between screenwriters and those who inspire their work. When these
screenwriters receive fame and huge profits, you better believe that those who
believe they are the reason for the written success are coming to collect. One
example is Sylvester Stallone being sued for the likeness of her character
“Rocky” to professional boxer Chuck Wepner.
A story more recently is Bomb disposal expert Sgt. Jeffrey
Saver filing a lawsuit October of 2011 against screenwriter Mark Boal. Boal was
embedded with Savers unit in 2004 part of a writing assignment for playboy.
Boal took notes and wrote articles leading to his academy award winning
original screenplay “The Hurt Locker”. Sgt. Saver stated the movie was about
him and that he suffered ridicule for it, making it hard for him to get work.
Boal replied that, his work was inspired by many different soldiers, which
eventually led to the cases’ dismissal.
That case was very important for writers, because they are
inspired by many different people and events; for one person to come around and
easily claim rights to the writers work would open a window for anyone that
believes a film is identical to their own life. A lot of people experience the
same things, and for people being able to relate to a film is what makes them
special to us in the first place. “If you didn’t feel a connection, you
probably wouldn’t have enjoyed it”.
I’ve talked about external liabilities, now here’s an
internal one. The hit reality show on A&E “Storage Wars” has a suit filed (Dec 2012) against them by one of their very own cast members. Yes, David Hester "YuuuP" has
accused the producers of the show of “salting” or planting rare or expensive
items within the storage units up for auctions, in order to create drama or
spice up the show. Hester said he brought his complaint up at a show meeting
and couple days later he was fired. The producers deny all accusations, and
have the backing from the network as well, stating, “All events are real”. Hester lawsuit is asking for $2.2 million for
wrongful termination and breach of contract.
It’s pretty much public knowledge that most reality shows
are staged for entertainment factors. If the producers did not “salt” or plant
these items for the show, the show probably wouldn’t be on their fourth season.
Yes, you probably can find rare and valuable items in those storage units, but
the odds are very low, and the show must go on. Hester will battle with
A&E, but hopefully there were no other documented reasons for his
termination, because then he will be lucky if he can get the producers to pay
his lawyer fees.
