Question about copyright

[lij]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California
Can I make YouTube videos of the Brothers Grimm fairy tales (public domain) but using Disney dolls and toys for the characters?

 

[Just Blue]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California
Can I make YouTube videos of the Brothers Grimm fairy tales (public domain) but using Disney dolls and toys for the characters?

Can you? Yes.
Will you not suffer the law suit? Doubtfully.

 

[quincy]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California
Can I make YouTube videos of the Brothers Grimm fairy tales (public domain) but using Disney dolls and toys for the characters?

YouTube would undoubtedly receive a takedown notice from Disney if your video is not automatically flagged by YouTube, and you undoubtedly would receive a notice of infringement from Disney. Disney is extremely protective of their trademark and copyrights and are not afraid to sue anyone they feel infringes on these rights.

Following is a link to information on the Copyright Act's fair use doctrine, provided by Stanford. It uses Disney characters to explain fair use (what is not fair use and what could be considered fair use by a court). It is worth a look. http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/blog/2007/03/fairy-use-tale

 

[lij]

Does it apply just to the fairy tales or would it apply to any sort of "fan fiction", because there are thousands of YouTube channels of people making videos with Disney dolls and keeping their Disney names. For example,

Ursula Kidnaps Ariel

Frozen Elsa and Anna Go on a Picnic

Frozen Elsa Gets Married

etc. etc.. etc..

 

[quincy]

Does it apply just to the fairy tales or would it apply to any sort of "fan fiction", because there are thousands of YouTube channels of people making videos with Disney dolls and keeping their Disney names. For example,

Ursula Kidnaps Ariel

Frozen Elsa and Anna Go on a Picnic

Frozen Elsa Gets Married

etc. etc.. etc..

Does what apply to just fairy tales or fan fiction? Fair use, or the risk of suffering the potential wrath of Disney?

Actually, both apply.

I apologize because my earlier link to Stanford's "A Fairy Use Tale" was faulty and I have since fixed it. If you were frustrated in your attempts to access it before, it should work now, and it is helpful in explaining what uses of rights-protected material can be all right and what can be risky.

Fan fiction and the use of Disney dolls to create new "adventures" for film characters can either be viewed as a fair use of Disney material, or Disney might see it as infringing on their rights.

It is true that Disney owns the exclusive rights to create "derivatives" of the film Frozen, and fan fiction and creating new tales for Disney characters often crosses the fair use line into derivative territory. Disney could potentially sue anyone they feel infringes on their copyrights or trademark rights.

That said, most copyright holders who believe a published work infringes on their rights will simply file a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) notice with the site that hosts the material, and the host site will remove it. No lawsuit, or even a threat of a lawsuit will result.

Disney is a company that is known to police the marketplace for infringers and take legal action against them. The NFL is, likewise, a bit touchy about those who use their rights-protected material without authorization.

But some film companies, record companies, authors and artists are either not as diligent when it comes to guarding their copyrights and trademarks, or they do not find infringement in all that they see.

You can have your fairy tale videos, using Disney characters to act out the roles, reviewed personally by an attorney in your area, to get a better assessment of the legal risks you could face in publishing the videos on YouTube. Or you could create your own characters to illustrate the fairy tales.

Disney is not necessarily a company I would mess with but, whether Disney would notice your videos and have them pulled from YouTube, or challenge your use of their characters with a notice of infringement and legal action, or find your use a fair use and do nothing, is something I can't tell you.

 

[lij]

thanks

Haha I meant the risk of suffering the potential wrath of Disney. Thank you so much for your help. I've been curious about this for a while because there are a lot of people making a lot of money on YouTube doing this type of thing. When I first saw it, I thought of copyright infringement, but since there are so many of them, I thought maybe it was considered fair use. I know Mattel and Disney know about these videos because some of the bigger channels even get promotional toys from Mattel and Disney, to use in their videos. So I thought, if derivative stories are okay, maybe the Brothers Grimm fairy tales could be okay too, since it's not Disney's story. But, you're right. Ultimately, Disney is the copyright holder and they decide who they go after, and who they leave alone. Disney might just choose not to do anything about these videos, maybe because it gives them publicity, or maybe they don't think it threatens their company. I'll just do my fairy tales using Barbies, although that could be a potential problem with Mattel, maybe?

Thanks for fixing the link

 

[quincy]

Haha I meant the risk of suffering the potential wrath of Disney. Thank you so much for your help. I've been curious about this for a while because there are a lot of people making a lot of money on YouTube doing this type of thing. When I first saw it, I thought of copyright infringement, but since there are so many of them, I thought maybe it was considered fair use. I know Mattel and Disney know about these videos because some of the bigger channels even get promotional toys from Mattel and Disney, to use in their videos. So I thought, if derivative stories are okay, maybe the Brothers Grimm fairy tales could be okay too, since it's not Disney's story. But, you're right. Ultimately, Disney is the copyright holder and they decide who they go after, and who they leave alone. Disney might just choose not to do anything about these videos, maybe because it gives them publicity, or maybe they don't think it threatens their company. I'll just do my fairy tales using Barbies, although that could be a potential problem with Mattel, maybe?

Thanks for fixing the link

The use of Barbie dolls has led to lawsuits in the past so I am not at all sure you would have any better odds escaping a legal action from Mattel than you would in escaping a legal action from Disney. That said, and if memory serves me, Mattel did lose at least one of their "Barbie doll suits" - that one was against an artist who used Barbie dolls for a noncommercial art project, though.

There is a greater chance a use will be found a fair use if the use of another's rights-protected material is not for the commercial gain of the unauthorized user. But commercial versus noncommercial use is only one factor a court considers when deciding if a use is fair or infringing.

It is generally not smart to base what you do on what you see others doing. It is possible those you see online have acquired licenses to use material from the holder of the rights in the material. Or it is possible that those you see online could be violating laws and just haven't been caught yet.

It might help you to read the YouTube terms and conditions of use and YouTube's section on copyright laws (https://www.youtube.com/yt/copyright/). And there was a thread started here recently on fan-edits and I think the thread covered some of what you are asking about here, if you wanted to browse this section of the forum a bit.

 

[lij]

Thank you so much for your help. I was able to find a form to request permission from Mattel to use their material. I will fill it out and see what happens. Thank you again!!!

 

[quincy]

Thank you so much for your help. I was able to find a form to request permission from Mattel to use their material. I will fill it out and see what happens. Thank you again!!!

I think you are smart to request permission from Mattel.

If they grant you the right to use their material in your video, all will be right with the world. If they deny permission, well, at least you have saved yourself from finding out through a legal action that they are not pleased with the unauthorized use of their material.

I know that it took the creators of the Toy Story films awhile to get Mattel's permission to use Barbie and Ken as characters but, since Barbie and Ken eventually appeared in the later films, perhaps Mattel is softening their stance on having their toys used by others in creative ways. I hope you discover that that is the case.

If you have the chance, post back to let us know how Mattel responds. Good luck.

 

[lij]

Sure, I'll keep you guys updated

 

[quincy]

Sure, I'll keep you guys updated

Sounds good, lij. I wish you luck with Mattel.