If someone associated with your film uses illegal software..

cheeseandachallenge

cheeseandachallenge

If someone collaborating on your film (e.g. a composer, a vfx artist, an animator, an sound designer, etc) is using illegal software - can there be legal repercussions for me (director/producer)?

It's unlikely something I do gets audited (at least at this stage), but say I have a killer idea for a short I can do on a tiny budget and it does well at a festival. I then get audited - I'm in the clear because I own adobe cc, and all the software I use. But one of my collaborators is found to have pirated software. Is it the collaborator's responsibility or mine?
 
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The company that owns the software can bar you from release. Making all the hard work of everyone on your production worthless for anything other than experience. If you have the misfortune of it making any money, you can be sued.
 
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Nope, it's not a thing. Who's going to do the auditing? The film festival? They don't have time for that, nor do I think any of them care. There's no central organization for policing filmmakers. There's nobody who would have the time or care to perform this imagined audit. You're fine.
 
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Festivals / distributors don't care how you made the film, only that the film is good. That's why you sign liability contracts and buy E&O insurance.

If the government audited you as a filmmaker I'd imagine you would just be showing them invoices from the people you hired to do the post. The cost of buying software is something they might have to explain if they got audited themselves, but that doesn't come back to you as the filmmaker.

If you hire a painter to paint your house and he steals a few cans from Home Depot to get the job done, I can't see how that's your fault.
 
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Film and Distributors do care that you have the rights to everything in your film. How that film came to be..


It more depends on how you employ the person. If you employ them as an employee of your production company, then he/she uses pirated software under the umbrella of your corporation, then you might be liable - though I wouldn't imagine there would be any block on the film itself, simply a hefty fine.
If you subcontracted the associate then they would be liable. Similar to the example above - if you start a painting company, and then employ someone who steals two cans from Home Depot, your company might be liable, whereas if you as a homeowner employed a painting company to do the painting for you, then they would be liable.
 
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Nobody is coming into your home to check that your software is legit. This isn't a thing that happens, not anywhere in the world. Distributors do not ask for verification of software licences. Nor do film festivals.

Y'all are making me feel like Mugato. I feel like I'm taking crazy pills! I invented the piano neck-tie!
 
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Cracker Funk said:
Nobody is coming into your home to check that your software is legit. This isn't a thing that happens, not anywhere in the world. Distributors do not ask for verification of software licences. Nor do film festivals.

Y'all are making me feel like Mugato. I feel like I'm taking crazy pills! I invented the piano neck-tie!
Click to expand...

This kind of audit DOES happen in the software industry ..
 
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We're not in the software industry. We're talking about a film getting into a film festival. These kinds of audits don't happen. They don't exist. I'd like to hear ONE example of it ever happening, anywhere.
 
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For those of you who are saying a filmmaker can be held liable and
the film barred form release do you have any examples of this
happening? Do you have an idea of how the owner of the pirated
software finds out? Do software companies have agreements with
distributors?

I have made many deals with distributors. I have several dozen
agreements in my position as I write this. In order to keep E&O
insurance down they are very, very careful. Not one includes any
wording about the software used. I can't imagine in any scenario
how (for example) Apple could ever know that the movie was edited
using pirated Final Cup Pro.
 
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Even if you were a fully-fledged production company working with an outside contractor or studio, you couldn't be busted for them using illegal software - if it's on your premises/done by a member of your staff then yeah, but third parties no.
 
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Alright, thanks for the feedback. My concern about my colleague made me consider than composer's and other people I've collaborated with may've used illegal software in the past. So it seems there is pretty little cause for concern. Is there anything I should do to make sure I'm not liable in the incredibly unlikely case that something did happen?
 
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