1. Decherney 2 Studio system about predictability and homogeneity Studio system about standardization Hollywood is built on plagiarism, like the early industry was built on piracy (duping, adaptation) All this is paradoxical because copyright rewards “originality”

2. Remakes Improving on another director's How filmmakers exchanged ideas and how the art of making film grew This open environment in the early 1900s allowed the art of narrative film to expand rapidly So, general stories, conventions, genres, archetypes, jokes, characters in the PUBLIC DOMAIN and NOT copyrighted

3. Chaplin v. Amador Chaplin the original auteur; the romantic author Chaplin had many imitators of his Little Tramp character – Most of the unique characteristics of this character was built on prior art/characters Sued Mexican actor, Charles Amador, who made films as Charlie Aplin Tried to settle; went to court in 1925 Aplin claimed to have the same right to use the comedic elements Chaplin used...jokes=no copyright

4. Chaplin v. Amador Cont'd Chaplin claimed his character came from observation and his own ideas Aplin showed how Chaplin borrowed from Vaudeville If Chaplin won it would allow for the monopoly of performance/costume Court ruled Aplin could perform the character as long as advertising stated it was him, not Chaplin

5. Chaplin v. Amador Cont'd Appealed 1928, court refines original decision Sig: could not engage in fraud and try and trick consumers into thinking it was a Chaplin Sig: case was a precedent for celebrity trademark, likeness, and image rights

6. Harold Lloyd Lloyd a craftsman; authorship was collaborative The Freshman (1925), a story about a geek who ends up a star on the college football team Lloyd v. Witwer (1929) Writer H.C. Witwer sues Lloyd for $2.3M, claiming he “pirated” his short story “The Emancipation of Rodney”

7. Lloyd v. Witwer Witwer had to prove: – Lloyd had access to the story – The stories were “substantially similar” Court ruled in favor of Witwer in that Lloyd “unintentionally plagiarized” the story Appeal court rules in favor of Lloyd in 1933 Sig: you cannot protect general ideas plot structures Sig: protected industry against accusations of plagiarism

9. Scenes a Faire Doctrine Legal concept for separating genre elements (ideas) from original contributions (expressions) Judicial test of similarity between narrative/genre elements that appear in film If characters are put in similar situations are there inevitable outcomes that cannot be protected by copyright?

10. Writers In 1930s, writers whose stories are adapted, or screenwriters, were paid for labor but not in creative process and no residuals Started to unionize...Screen Writers Guild forms, in part, to help writers see benefit from the success of films ($, credit, etc.) Movie producers treated writers as technicians...you get paid once for your labor Today, writers who have market/brand presence, see royalties on box office sales; most see one time payout Most screenwriters make screenplays “for hire”, receive “minimums” and residuals on DVD/streams

11. Judge Learned Hand “A man may take and old story and work it over, and if another copies, not only what is old, but what the author has added to it when he worked it up, the copyright is infringed”

12. Adapting from Real Live Author has right to plot details We can adapt real stories freely since they are public domain We cannot use an author's creative embellishments to real stories A sequence of events in a story can be considered original expressions

13. Contracts 1940s, Hollywood starts to use contracts to protect ideas because copyright didn't While ideas can used freely and built upon, contracts help to CONTROL ideas Writers Guild now handles authorship disputes instead of court (usually)

14. TV 1950s, TV industry grows (was then not associated with Hollywood) TV viewed as a threat...a PIRATE! TV Formats (police dramas, sitcoms, etc.) = Film genres/ideas...not protectable through copyright, but in contract Broadcast rights built into contracts, but musicians, actors, and writers fought for residuals to TV broadcast

15. Characters... Character names and other elements can be trademarked If character and story are one in the same, if they have merged, can be copyrighted also Developed characters thus become expressions If character is just part of the story, they cannot be copyrighted (but, still ®) You can parody these characters, but use only enough to “conjure” up the object of parody