Re: Character protection (Was: Lolita's copyright)

On Thu, Oct 22, 1998, Angela Putney <aputney[_at_]aip.org> wrote:
>
> On 10/16/98, Tyler Ochoa <tochoa[_at_]law.whittier.edu> wrote:
> >
> > As a practical matter, it may not matter, since both the scripts and
> > the performances are usually owned by the producer of the show. But
> > my understanding of the "character protection" cases is that the
> > character is protected both in its literary form (as a script) and
> > in its audiovisual form (as a combination of the script and the
> > fixed performance of that script). Moreover, a court will protect a
> > character who is embodied in a combination of books, scripts and/or
> > movies. Thus, James Bond is protected in each of his various
> > incarnations, individually and in combination.
>
> Actually, this brings up a related question. I understand the James
> Bond movie rights were bought up and the movie character can be played
> by whomever in what ever fashion in the movies. However, in the 1980s
> (or was it 1970s) an author, not Ian Flemming (John Gardner and I
> believe another author did as well), started writing books staring Ian
> Flemming's James Bond (I believe even the book covers claimed this).
> Ian Flemming died in the 1960s and was British. Since this is in the
> same genre as the original character, would and did John Gardner need to
> get the rights to use the James Bond character? And for which countries?
> (I know the John Gardner books can be purchased in the US)

Does anyone have citations for cases (from the U.S. or Canada) dealing with character rights in literary characters?

Monique Van Remortel
Barrister & Solicitor
Toronto, Canada
mvr[_at_]istar.ca Received on Fri Oct 23 1998 - 18:36:32 GMT