Legal to use cloned movie clips?

J

jamie

Hi, a slightly different question that I'm hoping I might be able to get some tips on... (don't worry, I'm not expecting to get proper legal advice here!)

I am making an iPhone app and I would like to include a movie clip about 1 minute long in it. I am going to shoot the sequence myself but it will be based on a famous scene from a big Hollywood blockbuster made a few years ago.

My intention is to sell the app for a couple of dollars, aiming for widespread distribution on the App Store. I know that if I was using an actual movie clip I would need to obtain permission from the movie studio etc, but I'm not sure if the fact that I am shooting the clip myself (while admittedly trying to reproduce the original movie as closely as possible) gives me any lee-way?

Like most indie app developers, I have virtually no budget for this, am working on it in my spare time for the sheer hell of it, and am probably not going to make much/any money on it. (Something like 90% of sold apps are unprofitable!). So hiring a lawyer or paying royalties to a movie studio is not really an option.

Is there any sort of precedence on this sort of thing?

Any thoughts greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Jamie
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
You're putting it into an app. Since there's the possibility of wider exposure and profit, they may come after you. I'd venture a guess you'd be a bit safer if you didn't include any dialog so you're not infringing on the copyright of the script.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
if you didn't include any dialog so you're not infringing on the copyright of the script.
Click to expand...

Knightly is right here. Don't use the dialogue, music or video, you'll be fine.

What Mile also said is true. Make it a parody and you would be even safer (while using the above proviso's too).
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top