Question on Uncopyrighted Material

[db85]

Nebraska

I wrote a film script 3 or 4 years ago... is it at all possible to take a TV Network to court over a Movie they made that seems entirely ripped off of mine even if my material is uncopyrighted BUT there are timestamps on when my files (screenplay) was created.

 

[The Occultist]

As soon as you make the object, it is copyright under you; you don't need to do anything extra to secure the copyright. If you want to take this network to court, you'll need to hire a lawyer. Good luck.

 

[divgradcurl]

Nebraska

I wrote a film script 3 or 4 years ago... is it at all possible to take a TV Network to court over a Movie they made that seems entirely ripped off of mine even if my material is uncopyrighted BUT there are timestamps on when my files (screenplay) was created.

Did you submit the manuscript to the network? How did the network learn of your script in order to allegedly copy it?

Occultist is right, your work is already copyrighted. You will need to register your work with the copyright office before you can take any action. And you will need to hire a lawyer...

 

[db85]

no i did not submit the script to the network or anyone it is a spec script written by myself and i just felt that this network released recently a TV Movie way too similar to my screenplay that I felt stronly about (the one I was going to use to get through the door into Hollywood) now they kind of stole my idea.

what are themain steps/consequences in taking a major TV network to court though??

 

[The Occultist]

If I understand this correctly, the just happened to make something of their own volition, and it coincidentally matches something you made? You're saying that your work is not actually related to their work, and it's an accident that it's similar to what you made?

 

[divgradcurl]

no i did not submit the script to the network or anyone it is a spec script written by myself and i just felt that this network released recently a TV Movie way too similar to my screenplay that I felt stronly about (the one I was going to use to get through the door into Hollywood) now they kind of stole my idea.

what are themain steps/consequences in taking a major TV network to court though??

Occultist brings up a good point. Copyright law protects against someone copying your work -- it does not protect your "idea" or "concept." If someone else independently comes up with the same or similar idea or concept, that's not covered by copyright law. If they never saw your script, or heard about it, there is no way that they could have "copied" your script -- and therefore they are not liable for copyright infringement. Copyright is NOT a patent -- copyright law is much more limited than patent law. In patent law, only one patent is ever issued for a single invention, no matter how many people independently come up with the same invention. But under copyright law, it would be potentially possible for every person in the U.S. (or the world, even) to have a copyright on the exact same work, so long as each person came up with the work independently. Not sure how you would prive that, of course, but the point is, just because you have a script and someone else has the same or siilar script does NOT mean copyright infringement exists unless you can show that this other person had access to your work to copy it (or derive their work from it).