Dayna had a really great comment that I wanted to draw from in a post. She brought up the world of advertising and copyrights. In what I imagine to be a 'Nam flashback-like occurrence I remembered a question from last semester's copyright exam.
Imagine that I am an aspiring director and I want to get my start by making commercials. So, I put together a commercial for Jack in the Box fast food restaurants. The commercial uses their similar commercial theme of a bag falling down fast and has a guy with an oversized round face and pointed hat on his head. That guy is on a deserted island with nothing but a little Jack Ball companion with him who he talks to for support. The entire commercial takes about 45 seconds. I mail the video recording of my commercial to Jack in the Box asking them if I could get a job. A few months later I see a commercial on tv for Jack in the Box that looks almost identical to my commercial.
Could I sue Jack in the Box for copyright infringement? Would Jack in the Box be able to counter-sue me for copyright infringement from me using the falling bag and Jack Head? Would a movie studio be able to sue me or Jack in the Box or both for copyright infringement? Could anyone successfully claim either fair use or parody or both?
When I got to this, the final question on a 6 essay question test, I had about 20 minutes left. Flashbacks.
Friday, April 09, 2004
Is that commercial copyrighted?
-x-
