Slashdot Mirror
007 Dis(Gold)members Austin Powers
gpinzone writes, "MGM and Danjaq, the British company that controls the Bond
film license, have obtained a cease-and-desist order against New
Line Cinema that prohibits New Line from calling the latest
installment of
Mike Myers' shagadelic spy series
Austin Powers in Goldmember . The full
article is available from E!-Online."
... not like that matters to Big Media. They have ways of getting around anything that interrupts their cash flow.
Oh, and FR1ST PS0T!!!
N4st0r, trixx0r h0bb1tz0rz! Th3y st0l3 0ur pr3c10uzz!
It thought most people were aware this movie was in development for a while, so why has it taken so long for MGM to move on it?
Weird how they're upset about this, but allowed "The Spy Who Shagged Me". I thought that satire counted as fair use of copyrighted material?
It's weird Al allowed to make his songs so similar to the original becuase they are parodies. Surely the the same is true for this film?
It's a play for revenues. MGM wants cash. My prediction: amicalbly resolved with an undisclosed cash settlement in 2 weeks.
Why on earth is this new for nerds? This is not stuff that matters.
... Ah geez, nevermind. Maybe you'll figure it out.
Well, I'm not sure that it's "new" at all.....
And let's forget for a minute that this might be an appropriate topic for slashdot (think think think.. owwww), just consider that a site like this is popular because of one thing. It continues to draw visitors. Do you see a lack of visitors? Content must be ok... If you aren't pleased with the direction the content has taken, then you could just
For the benefit of the hordes who will post "I thought satire/fair use yadda yadda yadda", don't speculate, go and read about it.
There is a specific codification of fair use for parody or satire, but satire alone is not automatically enough to protect you.
The factors relevant to this case are:
Prima facia, it's about 50-50. Mike is trading on someone else's idea for profit, but in a small way compared to his original content. Using the character in the title was rather asking for it though. Mel Brooks got away with that, and with significant use of Star Wars material in Spaceballs, because he also parodied at least another 21 sources, and used his borrowed characters to perform a fair amount of critical commentary ("moichandising, moichandising").
Remember that but fair use is an exception to the law, and as Mike is clear about where he's taking his material from, it really is up to him to prove his innocence. He shouldn't have much trouble doing so, and this is likely just a well timed gambit to land a quick out of court settlement, one that the Goldmember people really should have anticipated and prepared for. But heck, it lands them free publicity, so the only losers here are a few PR executives.
(Incidentally, I agree with other posters that this article really is -1 Offtopic. If we really care IP issues, then why not run my submission on how all the sound and fury about IP on Slashdot has failed to translate into actual support for the WIPOUT essay competition. For gods' sake, all you have to do is CC your usual Slashdot rants to them!).
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
The problem with "fair use" is that it has to be proven and defended on a case-by-case basis. If New Line wants to fight it they wouldn't have a chance of sufficiently marketing it and still get it out for the summer blockbuster season.
"God fights on the side with the best artillery." - Napoleon, Marshal of France - speaking truth to power
And it's not as if we haven't seen things getting even more dubious in recent Bond films, what with discovering that Mr Bond is a 'cunning linguist'. ;)
++ Say to Elrond "Hello.".
Elrond says "No.". Elrond gives you some lunch.
with links to three different items on the raid ... three IMCs were the sources
/. that keep pointing at IMC.
IAMNAE (editor), but if IMC was your only source then I probably would have rejected it too. IMC is about the most twisted source of information I've ever seen on the net. I can't figure out why there are a couple of people on
IMC calling itself Journalism and NewsMedia is good for a laugh though. They make SlashDot look like CNN.
Finding an actual news report on the incident would probably get the story accepted.
-
- - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
The main story's article doesn't even mention the word "copyright".
Probably because any potential action's not based in copyright, but in trademark.
All the discussion about fair use, parody, etc. applies only to copyright claims. This a clearly a TRADEMARK dispute. As far as I know, "fair use" doesn't apply to trademarks, although the "requirements" for infringement are much higher (e.g., will the customer be confused, etc.).
--Doug
OK, I've got DMCA and MPAA, all I need is RMS, SSSCA, and a software patent to commplete the row...
- Have a picture
Anything that's bad for the Austin Powers franchise is Good For America.