Movie Producers Want Sole Ownership Of Facebook Fans
from the alternate-destinations dept
chunlou apparently is involved with a Facebook fanpage for the movie Let Me In. For over a year, the fan page has built up a nice collection of photos and videos related to the movie -- much of it created by fans (fanart, parodies, etc.) along with promotional material from the film (trailers and promotional photos released by the studio) which you would think would make the studio happy to see spread. Not so much, apparently. Rather than embracing these fans, Overture Films apparently has freaked out about losing "control" of fans -- and has had a partner issue a takedown notice to Facebook, demanding all of the artwork be taken down as infringing. What's noteworthy is that in the letter itself, the company demanding the takedown, Mammoth Advertising, is pretty upfront that the reason isn't that the works are harming the market for those same works -- but that Overture doesn't want fans going anywhere but its official site to learn about the movie. The key passage in the letter:"... we fear that they are establishing themselves as an alternate destination and authority for the film. They could post false, misleading, or inappropriate content about the film which would be seen by Facebook users."Of course, if they posted false or misleading content, then the filmmakers would be able to make claims against them. That they're trying to misuse copyright law to take down such a fan effort seems deeply troubling. It's an abuse of copyright law, which is designed not to prevent someone from potentially doing something "misleading," but supposedly to give the producer a monopoly solely for the purpose of creating the incentive to create the content. Is Overture really suggesting that if this fanpage is allowed to continue it won't have incentive to make movies any more?
There's also a pretty strong case for fair use here again. While I haven't seen the fanart, so that could depend, if we go through the basic four factors test, it's hard to see how any of them side with Overture. The purpose is clearly non-commercial for the creators of the fanpage. The nature of the work is that it's a fanpage, designed to promote the original work and to provide commentary on it. It's not showing the movie itself, but rather promotional clips that were released by the filmmakers to gain interest in the film, so it's not using much of the actual movie. And, the user-generated content sounds at least somewhat transformative (though, again, it would help to actually see what was taken down).
Finally, while the letter accuses the fan page of pulling content off of the official site, chunlou insists that that did not happen, and claims that the official site was way too slow to update, and they usually had the content first. Frankly, the whole thing seems pretty silly. A decade ago, we would hear about movie studios freaking out about fanpages, but it had seemed like most of them had figured out that such things are a good thing. Apparently, some filmmakers aren't quite there yet.
Anyway, we've posted the full takedown letter after the jump, where they admit that they're happy that there is a fan group, but they're afraid too many people will go there. Chunlou has filed a counternotice claiming fair use, so we'll see if Overture takes this any further.-----Original Message-----
Copyright Notification #: 176887627
Name: [personal name withheld]
Email: [personal email withheld]
Description of copyrighted work
Video clips, stills, promotional photos, and movie posters owned by Overture Films, of which I am a contracted agent.
Location on fb network
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=110491592580
How Copyright infringed
[Links to content]
Additional Info
I work for Mammoth Advertising, which is contracted by Overture Films to run the online marketing campaign for a film called "Let Me In", being released in the United States on October 1 2010. Any and all "Let Me In" content approved for Facebook is located on the official fan page, of which I am an administrator: http://www.facebook.com/letmein
This unsanctioned group features video clips, stills, photos and movie posters owned by Overture that have not been approved for upload to Facebook. They have ripped film clips from exclusive promotions on external websites, and from the official "Let Me In" Facebook page, and uploaded them to Facebook through their group.
The group administrators seem to be enthusiastic and genuine in their support for the film, and we certainly encourage Facebook fans to come together and discuss it. However, they do not have rights to the content they are featuring, and we fear that they are establishing themselves as an alternate destination and authority for the film. They could post false, misleading, or inappropriate content about the film which would be seen by Facebook users.
We do not wish for the group to be terminated, but we do need all the content listed above to be removed.
Thank you kindly, [personal name withheld]
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Filed Under: copyright, fanpages, fans, let me in
Companies: facebook, mammoth advertising, overture films
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Afraid of having too many fans?
I'd think that a movie maker wants to have as many people as possible enthusiastic about their movie. Trying to stop fans from raving about a movie they'd love to see, is just ridiculous.
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Re: Afraid of having too many fans?
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Re: Afraid of having too many fans?
I don't see how we can escape this, unless people wake up and realise they have rights... but they have to care, and most people apparently don't.
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Re: Re: Afraid of having too many fans?
That is the power consumers have. Unfortunately we don't wield it enough.
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Can't have it both ways.
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Re: Can't have it both ways.
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Hollywood lacks a lot
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Re: Hollywood lacks a lot
hollywood remakes everything because it believes that americans are too stupid to understand something in its original form.
let the right one in was a good movie and exposed me to swedish cinema. since then i have also watched the millennium trilogy and a couple of other swedish films whose names escape me at the moment.
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Re: Re: Hollywood lacks a lot
Hollywood is so obsessed with remakes because movie studios are run by glorified accountants who found the safe way to invest big money on projects was primarily to greenlight projects based on already proven concepts.
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Re: Re: Re: Hollywood lacks a lot
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Re: Re: Hollywood lacks a lot
A foreign film I actually enjoyed quite a bit (despite the main aspect being about relationships) is Amelie. It is a French film that is very well done and just crazy enough without overdoing it. Not your average romance film.
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Re: Hollywood lacks a lot
Personally, I think it is a bit silly that people are so averse to subtitles, but they are. It's not that Hollywood thinks Americans are too "stupid." It's that they KNOW that the majority of Americans just won't see a foreign film. I don't know why that's the case. Xenophobia? Laziness? Or is it simply that subtitles interfere with the experience? I can relate to that. They used to present a barrier for me until I watched enough foreign movies that I can read the subs peripherally while still focusing on the picture. Heck, I usually forget that I am reading subs a few minutes in. I actually remember dialog in the characters voice...in English. The brain is weird.
Anyway, yes, Let the Right One In was a nearly perfect movie. Surprisingly, though, this is one remake that is getting fantastic reviews, saying that it equals or even surpasses the original. I'm pretty shocked at this, but the reviews are coming from people who flat-out condemned the idea of a remake when it was announced.
So, I'll see it. The Facebook controversy won't stop me. Why? Because if I boycotted a movie every time someone involved did something I didn't like, there wouldn't be any movies left for me to watch. I will watch the movie to enjoy it on it's own merits, and hopefully it will be as good as some say.
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Re: Re: Hollywood lacks a lot
I too quite enjoyed the original one and will probably see this one. However, it being an Americanized version we will see how it compares to the first. While I have not looked at a bunch of reviews or anything more than one trailer so far, it seems like they added a bit more blood. It was funny watching a trailer for a movie that is not out yet and knowing where every scene comes from. I think that was a first for me.
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Re: Re: Hollywood lacks a lot
A combination of the two, I fear.
"Anyway, yes, Let the Right One In was a nearly perfect movie. Surprisingly, though, this is one remake that is getting fantastic reviews, saying that it equals or even surpasses the original. I'm pretty shocked at this, but the reviews are coming from people who flat-out condemned the idea of a remake when it was announced."
From what I can tell, they're doing it the right way - or at least a "right" as these things can be. As I understand it, they've not so much remade the movie as made another interpretation of the source novel (which is very different in some places and well worth a read, though it goes into some very dark territory).
This, at least, leaves some room for artistic input unlike, say, Quarantine. Poetic justice there, however, since the (otherwise shot-for-shot) remake left out the original's supernatural angle, which makes a similar remake of [REC] 2 impossible.
I'm looking forward to the remake of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, though the original was excellent. I can't see David Fincher getting into such a project without some strong artistic reasons and I expect the novel to be similarly re-interpreted. I do, however, wonder how the hell it can possibly translate, as some aspects of the trilogy relate directly to quirks of Swedish law that - to my knowledge - have no comparison in American law.
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Their control freakery is infuriating. People want to talk about and spread the word about films, music and books that they like. Often the "official" space for such discussion is lack lustre or just plain rubbish but rather then fix that and try and complete with the unofficial they just complain and call in the lawyers.
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So the problem is...
So some miscreant could post mis-leading information regarding the plot, de-railing the whole project, leading to mayhem in the streets,and an apocalyptic end to civilization. Ok...
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Take it all down...
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Wow
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First Amendment
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Re: First Amendment
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
Movie studio/publicity people/other =/= congress.
Can you try and remember this finally? Please?
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Re: Re: First Amendment
First, there are laws made by Congress involved here. Congress passed copyright laws and the DCMA which the company used to sweep away criticism. Private companies may have filed the suits, but the laws they used for authority to do so are from congress. There have been conflicts between copyright and freedom of speech in the past, and that is much of the fair use doctrine comes in.
Second, there have been rulings that make it clear that the first amendment extends beyond just Congress making laws. There isn't much question that it also applies to other levels of government. Lots of state laws have been struck down due to the pesky first amendment even though Congress had nothing to do with them. It gets trickier once you move beyond government, but there are court cases saying that the right to free speech extends onto private property if the area is held forth as a public forum. A fan site open to anyone to post comments would certainly seem to fall under the public forum doctrine.
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greed
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There ARE alternatives
Die Beauty is a movie that has been released under a Creative Commons License(by-nc-sa)via The Pirate Bay because they WANT the movie to be shared.
Oh and look, TechDirt has their own article about Die Beauty here. Surprised? I think not.
Look at that. Sounds like the new business model is getting a grip. Woo hoo!
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That's just stupid and I don't care why. You want it - keep it.
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Suggestion to company
It's amazing what fans can accomplish for you.
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fan-based marketing
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Fans can't possible do it better can they?
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Fair use
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Re: Fair use
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