Would Sony Have To License A Screenplay About The Sony Hack?
from the owning-facts dept
There have been a lot of interesting questions to come out of the Sony Hack. And the story of the hack itself is certainly quite fascinating (in fact, as some have pointed out, the story of the hack still seems a lot more compelling than the plot of The Interview -- the movie some still want to associate with the hack, even as the evidence appears thin). So if the "true life" story of the hack is a movie waiting to be made, that raises some other intriguing questions. Parker Higgins wondered if Sony would option the screenplay itself, or if it would let a competing studio get it. Of course, that (correctly) assumes that the screenplay itself would be controlled by whoever wrote it, and that Sony wouldn't have any direct ownership interest in it otherwise.But you could see where some would argue that this is somehow unfair. As we've pointed out for years, however, you can't own a copyright on facts. The basic news of something is factual and not covered by copyright -- though some of the reporting on it could be covered by copyright. In fact, we've noted how interesting it is that movie studios often license news stories from newspapers or reporters, even though they don't need to. In many cases, they could make a movie based on the news without making a deal with the journalists, but they still choose to do so, because there are certain advantages in doing it that way -- including having the reporters who know the story well give input into the film. It's a pretty good example of how contractual deals can often work even when there's no underlying copyright to be had.
But this gets pretty interesting when it comes down to the Sony Hack. First, among the odd legal theories tossed out by Sony's high-priced lawyers, is that the hacked information is Sony's "stolen information," and thus it might claim some sort of ownership right to the information, should any movie portrayal show/discuss the content of the hacked documents. That argument would raise an interesting First Amendment problem. Second, Sony could try a variety of other (mostly questionable) means of trying to block someone else from making the movie, using anything from trademark to publicity rights of some of the people involved. If challenged in court, it seems unlikely that these reasons would hold up, but it could make it difficult for a non-Sony studio to make such a film.
And, of course, it seems doubtful that Sony itself would want to make the film -- especially not one that accurately portrays a company that has been hacked 56 times in 12 years and kept its passwords in a folder named "Passwords" at the time of the hack. So, instead, it's entirely possible that someone else might try to make the movie -- and Sony might use legal bluster to try to stop it. Which is too bad, because such a movie seems like it might be a lot more interesting than some of what's been coming out of Hollywood lately...
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Filed Under: copyright, licensing, options, screenplay, sony hack
Companies: sony
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Nit: The filenames contained the word "password"
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Re: Nit: The filenames contained the word "password"
Given what we've seen of Sony's (in)attention to security over the past decade, how can any lapse, no matter how obvious and large, be considered unlikely?
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Re: Re: Nit: The filenames contained the word "password"
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Re: Re: Re: Nit: The filenames contained the word "password"
I have taken the precaution of keeping the document on a machine that is forever disconnected from the internet, though.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Nit: The filenames contained the word "password"
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Re: Re: Re: Nit: The filenames contained the word "password"
All it takes is one executive with hubris and impatience (often IT are either unaware, understaffed, or ignored, or any combination thereof).
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Nit: The filenames contained the word "password"
and I can second it all.. I do Digital Forensics and part of that when not in the criminality side is consulting to companies (some multinationals) on civil actions and also for preventative training where I have discovered (as has the whole industry) that what Sony did is sadly not unique but instead the norm and is an embedded hard to get rid of practice of most blinkered executives.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Nit: The filenames contained the word "password"
Some people are just plain stupid.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Nit: The filenames contained the word "password"
Just...
How stupid do you have to be for logic like that to sound reasonable? Keeping a list may or may not be secure(depends on how, and where, it was kept), but having the same password for everything was supposed to be more secure?
That's got to be what happens to the brain when you reach a position where no-one is willing to risk telling you what a moron you are, the 'common sense' parts must just shrivel right up or something.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Nit: The filenames contained the word "password"
Bet ya cant guess what December (the 12th month - HINT for the dummies) had on end of it.. go on.. go on.. guess!
Then they went back to 01, 02, etc in new year.
Oh the joys of not going insane when explaining BASIC FREAKIN SECURITY!
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Nit: The filenames contained the word "password"
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- it'll be another company which got hacked
- perpetrated by no less than three villains (North Korea, Anonymous, and 4Chan would be my guess)
- be distributed with one base movie with 13 sequels, one will feature a talking squirrel and two as spinoffs.
- the facts will be buried or embellished to make Sony look good.
Given the general public's stupidity of failing to realize every penny given to this studio comes back to haunt them, it'll make billions, especially in China.
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Re:
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Just a few random musings...
do the two wrongs make it right? Or cancel each other out and cause the end of the universe?
If it is published with DRM and the pirates hack the DRM... which is the worse "crime" ??
If Sony "leaks" it with a rootkit drm and hacks the pirates machines... is that good or bad or just never-ending-circular-karma?
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Typo...
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Re:
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Diplomacy In Action [was Re: Re: ]
United States Department of State Daily Press Briefing: December 30, 2014
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Re: Re: Diplomacy In Action [was Re: Re: ]
They have far, far too much to gain by sticking to the 'NK did it' claim for any amount of evidence to change their minds on the matter.
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Re:
Actually, those two, competing "determinations" aren't mutually exclusive.
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Dear Sony Employees
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Only 2 maybe 3 movies at most are worthy of wasting the time to watch each year. Sometimes not that many. The others are remakes, rewarmed over past films decorated up as something supposedly different, or a play to make money on a past theme. None of which interests me in the least.
I have had enough times of walking away from a theater feeling ripped off and will no longer do that. It's far too expensive for the common experience that leaves one totally dissatisfied. So I have dropped theaters from my personal list of entertainment. I tend more now to go with graphics and learning there. At least I get something out of that which results in satisfaction.
The only reason Sony is butt hurt over all this is the usual fare of screwing someone has been revealed and they are getting a little of it in return. Suddenly they aren't happy with it. All I have to say is better them than me. The only groups I could point to as deserving it more are proxy representatives for them and no better liked.
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Re:
I'll bet you there are a lot more than that. Hundreds of movies are made every year, and at least dozens of them are extremely good.
The trouble is that those aren't the ones that will be shown at your local megaplex because by and large they don't come from the major movie studios.
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The rest are probably pretty good.
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