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tv show....copyrights violation?

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zzbimzz

Guest
What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? Illinois

recently me and couple friends who are young professional in Elgin, Illinois produced a travel show and planned to distribute it to local TV station in order to get our exposure. We’d work hard on it and with the corporation of the city, police department and other local organizations and businesses we where lucky enough to do a public premiere. All of the cast and crews are all volunteer We also sold the vcd/dvd to fund the future show. Yesterday I heard from my friend that our show was shown on a satellite TV station in California. We never gave permission for anybody to air the show anywhere. The video that was shown on the station did not include the intro. that we have and the credit at the end was also cut out. I’m wondering if the station is reliable for this.

The only thing we did was emailed them telling them to stop airing the video, but today they still showing it on air. They didn't answer their email. And we are planning to call them directly, but we need help on with to say or who we should talk to.

Please help us on how to continue with this situation, do we have a case on this? If it really come to suing, what is the estimate cost involve in this? We are a group of young people with little budget. Is there anybody local or state that can possibly help us? I know private lawyer could cost a lot.

Thank you in advanced
 


divgradcurl

Senior Member
Did you register the copyright with the U.S. copyright office prior to selling the DVD?

If not, you still have the right to keep the TV station from broadcasting the program; however, you will have to register the copyright BEFORE you can take legal action, and your remedies will be limited.

Your best bet is to talk with a local attorney who could send the offending TV station a cease-and-desist letter; hopefully, that will get their attention.
 
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zzbimzz

Guest
thank you

no i have not register the copyright, but i am doing it today and we will talk to the local attorney tomorrow about the cease-and -desist letter.what do you mean about my remedies will be limited? i'm not sure what that mean.
.....


thank you ...you are a big help
 

divgradcurl

Senior Member
If the copyright is not registered prior to the infringing activity, the most you can sue for is "actual damages" -- that is, the amount of money you can prove that you lost because of the infringing activity.

If the copyright is registered prior to the infringing activity, then you can sue for either actual damages, or "statutory damages," which are damages set by law. Further, you can also sue for injunctive relief, like a restraining order, or other equitable remedies.

The problem is with the actual damages -- unless you have significant damages that you can prove -- like you lost the chance to sell to a TV station or something, or lost sales of your DVD due to the TV station's infringing activity -- you may not be able to show enough economic "harm" to make it worthwhile to pursue a lawsuit. Plus, it is very unlikely that an attorney would be willing to take such a case on contingency, unless there are a lot of provable damages, so you would have to pay the attorney up front. With statutory damages, you are guaranteed a minimum recovery if you win, so you are much more likely to get an attorney interested.

Anyway, it's too late for that now -- but something to keep in mind for the future. Registering a copyright is generally relatively straightforward, and not all that expensive -- but it gives you a lot of protection.

Hopefully, merely the threat of a lawsuit will get the TV station to back off, and you won't have to take it any further than that. Even if they do, make sure that you register the copyright, so if someone else tries to infringe in the future, you'll have the full arsenal of remedies at your disposal.
 
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zzbimzz

Guest
...

i got it.....thank you.....as of right now, we are not looking to sue them for money....it just that all of the credit was cut out... we felt that the group and alot people including some city officials that help us was cheaped and others just took our work that all of those people have help us and prosibly profit from it......

we will definately get it register and cease-and-desist letter will probably be underway......one more question, can we draft up our own cease-and-desist letter if we have the dvd register? or do we still have to get an atterney to do it for us....


thank you...
 

divgradcurl

Senior Member
one more question, can we draft up our own cease-and-desist letter if we have the dvd register? or do we still have to get an atterney to do it for us....
You don't have to get the copyright registered before you send a cease-and-desist letter -- you just need to get it registered before you can file a lawsuit.

Of course you can write your own letter -- but a letter from a lawyer will probably carry a lot more weight, and shouldn't be too expensive if that's all you have the lawyer do. Call around and see if one will do it for you for a reasonable fee.
 
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zzbimzz

Guest
settlement?

the other side decided to talk. Is there anything i should know about out of court settlement?is the settlement become final when i talked to them or does it have to be on document and sign?..i'm just want to make sure on what to say or what not to say so it couldn't hurt us later. should a lawyer be doing this? or could we do this ownself.
 

You Are Guilty

Senior Member
Settlements are binding when signed by all parties in writing.

You can do it yourself, but if you do not feel comfortable doing so, your negotiations will probably suffer, so that a "tougher" negotiatior may be a good idea. Whether that person is an attorney or not is up to you. (NB: I find police officers do a great job in negotiations, if you know of any).
 

Breckbuster

Junior Member
"recently me and couple friends who are young professional in Elgin, Illinois produced a travel show and planned to distribute it to local TV station in order to get our exposure.

Just curious.. was the purpose of your program to promote travel to Elgin, IL? And if so it sounds like you are getting some exposure, are you just upset that your credits were cut out?
 

divgradcurl

Senior Member
Just curious.. was the purpose of your program to promote travel to Elgin, IL? And if so it sounds like you are getting some exposure, are you just upset that your credits were cut out?
Whether or not they got "anything out of it" is irrelevant to the question of whether or not infringement took place. If they got "something out of it" that might "mitigate" their damages, but is does not bear on the querstion of whether the author's right to control the public performance of his or her work was infringed.

Further, if they cut the credits out, there might be misappropriation as well to consider.
 
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zzbimzz

Guest
Signature proof...

One quick question...when the other side want to settle and they are in another state, how do i make sure they got the contract from me and they are the one that sign it? in order for the contract to hold in court(certified mail?register mail..?)......i live in Illinois and they are in California.....

thank you for your help divgradcurl...! :)
 

divgradcurl

Senior Member
You can use certified mail, return receipt requested, or any other method (UPS, FedEx) that requires them to sign for the docs and gives you a recipt -- that way you can be sure they got them. Make sure you retain proof of receipt, just in case. You could ask them to have their signatures notarized -- that would give you some assurance that the people who need to sign the docs actually are. Send them a prepaid FedEx pouch or whatever to make sure that the docs get back to you ASAP. Good luck -- sounds like you are well on your way to a resolution here.
 

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