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If my story has simliar beats to another movie is that plagerism?

R

RealJasonBourne

Can you get in legal trouble if you have the same beats (similar twist) but different storyline?

Is there a major difference between Weeds and Breaking Bad?
 
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As I understand it, you can't copyright an idea, you can only copyright the specific sequence of events that make up a story. For example, the plot of Star Wars is copyrighted, but the basic premise of a group of rebels fighting an evil empire isn't and can never be. It wasn't even original when Lucas did it (by his own admission, he swiped the idea from Flash Gordon Conquers The Universe). Fending off accusations of unoriginality is another matter entirely.
 
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RealJasonBourne said:
Can you get in legal trouble if you have the same beats (similar twist) but different storyline?

Is there a major difference between Weeds and Breaking Bad?
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Nope, but you might aggravate some viewers.

When I watched Divergent I kept expecting Voldemort to show up.
What a shameless harry potter rip off :lol:
 
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Would you be able to give me an example of something that is plagiarism?

In this anime movie, the protagonists friend/talent agent turns out to be a psycho in the last scene. The protagonist was an ex-pop idol and the agent is upset she's turning into an actress. In the final scene the agent dresses up as her when she was a pop idol, wears a wig that resembles her hair, and tries to kill her.

If I have a psycho woman in the last scene (that we knew had mental problems from start) dress up as my protagonists girlfriend with a wig, same clothing, and we found out she had the girlfriend killed.

Can I get in trouble for that?

It's a completely different storyline. It's just the twist at the end is similar but I have thought of ways I can make it more subtle.
 
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Can you get in legal trouble if you have the same beats
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Can you? If you're talking going to jail, nope.

As far as I'm aware, it's civil court stuff. If you're asking if there's a chance you'll get sued. Sure there's a chance. It doesn't mean they will be successful or even if you've done something wrong.

Or are you talking whether your storyline will get you in trouble with making it a poor movie? So many perspectives to consider with your question.

Will they win? That's a question for the lawyers to answer after a prolonged law case at your expense I suppose.

If I have a psycho woman in the last scene (that we knew had mental problems from start) dress up as my protagonists girlfriend with a wig, same clothing, and we found out she had the girlfriend killed.
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It's probably been used in a dozen films and a hundred more that no one has ever seen.

The problem is your question is rather difficult to answer with any certainty. One of the great things in living in a free and continually litigious society is the freedom to sue. They don't even need that much of a case for it to go to trial. If someone decides to sue, you still need to defend the law suit.

Go take a little look at wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright

It's far from an exhaustive resource on the subject, but it may help point you in the right direction. You may also want to look up trade mark law while you're doing your research.

Does anyone else have pointers?
 
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Sweetie said:
Can you? If you're talking going to jail, nope.

As far as I'm aware, it's civil court stuff. If you're asking if there's a chance you'll get sued. Sure there's a chance. It doesn't mean they will be successful or even if you've done something wrong.

Or are you talking whether your storyline will get you in trouble with making it a poor movie? So many perspectives to consider with your question.

Will they win? That's a question for the lawyers to answer after a prolonged law case at your expense I suppose.



It's probably been used in a dozen films and a hundred more that no one has ever seen.

The problem is your question is rather difficult to answer with any certainty. One of the great things in living in a free and continually litigious society is the freedom to sue. They don't even need that much of a case for it to go to trial. If someone decides to sue, you still need to defend the law suit.

Go take a little look at wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright

It's far from an exhaustive resource on the subject, but it may help point you in the right direction. You may also want to look up trade mark law while you're doing your research.

Does anyone else have pointers?
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot^^ this is helpful.
 
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RealJasonBourne said:
Would you be able to give me an example of something that is plagiarism?
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Yes, quite easily in fact.

http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=51671

Shia LeBouf took word-for-word dialogue from a comic strip and turned it into a movie, then claimed that he wrote the whole thing himself.

The stuff you're talking about sounds totally fine to me!
Here is a good guideline for plagiarism.. whatever source you are 'heavily inspired' from, put some time between yourself and that source before you write your own stuff. Let it fade from memory a little if you can, and then when you write it you will reimagine it naturally, different than it was. It's not broad strokes that generally gets you into trouble, it's very specific details.
 
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sfoster said:
Yes, quite easily in fact.

http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=51671

Shia LeBouf took word-for-word dialogue from a comic strip and turned it into a movie, then claimed that he wrote the whole thing himself.

The stuff you're talking about sounds totally fine to me!
Here is a good guideline for plagiarism.. whatever source you are 'heavily inspired' from, put some time between yourself and that source before you write your own stuff. Let it fade from memory a little if you can, and then when you write it you will reimagine it naturally, different than it was. It's not broad strokes that generally gets you into trouble, it's very specific details.
Click to expand...

Great! Thank you.
 
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