Fair Use?

Michigan

I would like to make a short film parodying a movie character. What are the laws regarding parodying characters from movies. A short film that I found that is similar to what I want to do is this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diSBTmDJ_do. Did that movie break any laws?

js20077 said:

I would like to make a short film parodying a movie character. What are the laws regarding parodying characters from movies.

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Depends on the movie and the company holding the licensing.
Some movie companies have copyrighted things created for the film.. i.e. Bubba Gump Shrimp Company- licensed from Viacom. Sony holds HEAVY copyright on Ghostbusters and have been known to C&D on occasions. LucasFilm holds copyright to a large portion of characters (and costume designs) from his works.. and has been known to bring down the LucasHammer on those violators.

js20077 said:

A short film that I found that is similar to what I want to do is this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diSBTmDJ_do. Did that movie break any laws?

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They did violate copyright with the use of copyrighted music in their works

thanks for the response. Another question

Thank you for the response. I knew about the music and I already had planned on getting an original score fr the film. My main concern is the legality surrounding the use of a character from a different movie in my own. Does anybody know if that would fall under fair use.

Does it matter if it is non profit?

Can someone make a batman or superman movie for example as long as they don't try to profit from it. The reason I ask is because there is a great deal of "fan films" on youtube featuring characters that the major studios own. The filmmakers defense when I ask about the legality of that is that there is nothing the studios can do as long as the film is non profit. I would like to know if that is true or not.

js20077 said:

Thank you for the response. I knew about the music and I already had planned on getting an original score fr the film. My main concern is the legality surrounding the use of a character from a different movie in my own. Does anybody know if that would fall under fair use.

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What you are looking for is not a question that has a simple- direct- answer.

It all depends on the rights holder's. Which you won't know until you get a letter from them... if at all.