Legality of showing a DVD cover

dandevans

dandevans

Hello there. I'm currently in the process of making my first short and I was wondering if anyone could help me with a legal question.

In the short, two characters are seen watching a movie on DVD. The actual movie itself isn't shown (the camera is on the characters rather than the TV), but the camera then shows the DVD case on the arm of the sofa (the fact that they are watching this particular movie is used to hopefully humorous effect).

I'm wondering if there are any legal issues with showing the DVD case. The movie isn't portrayed in a negative light at all - in fact the characters are very much enjoying it! Is this the same as showing a character drinking a Coke say, which I've read elsewhere is totally fine?

I guess an alternative would be to create a fake DVD cover using the same title and stock photographs (as I understand it you can't copyright a movie title so using the title shouldn't be an issue, right?)

I haven't actually shot this yet, just trying to pre-empt any problems. Thanks in advance for any help!
 
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Technically, that is using a copyrighted artwork without permission. The truth is, what is your output for the short film? If it's YouTube and film festivals, then don't be concerned. No one will care.
 
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Thanks for the reply sonnyboo! Yes, the intended audience is basically festivals and internet distribution - but I heard some festivals were pretty touchy about legal stuff - wouldn't want to get disqualified for something I could easily avoid (assuming my alternative plan is legally ok that is). To be honest it wouldn't take too long to mock up a DVD cover, I'm doing lots of other artwork for props already.
 
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Ahem, on the other hand, the music business is quick-to-sue about many things. I wouldn't play chicken and would make a faked DVD cover instead -- with control like this, you could create something that would stand out specifically for your film.

Good luck!
 
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Thanks GuerillaAngel - yeah I think it's probably better to play safe than sorry for the amount of extra effort involved. I'll add it to the increasingly massive list of "stuff to make" :)
 
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Sanitize everything you can with regard to copyrighted stuff, although if something is far enough in the background that takes up very little screen space it doesn't matter. De minimus is the legal term. "The law cares not for small things."
 
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