Film production support – consulting
The firm provides active legal services to the film industry, including at the development and pre-production stages of feature films.
Recently, the law firm, among others advised the producer on the acceptability of using a well-known literary character (a fictional character) and adapting it for the big screen.
The consultancy included answering a number of questions, including whether the image of a fictional character is protected by law at all (and if so, what aspects of it are subject to protection), how to optimally secure the producer’s rights to an unfettered film adaptation using such a character, what is the scope of creative freedom available to the producer in creating the appearance of such a character (what if similar characters, illustrations, drawings, etc., already exist on the market), as well as assessing the issue of exclusivity for the appearance of the character and its subsequent use by the producer.
The law firm relied not only on Polish experience (including a dispute over the famous “Bolek and Lolek” characters), but also on experience in foreign markets, especially in the United States, where disputes over famous fictional characters are not uncommon, and their outcome is always uncertain (including disputes over Sherlock Holmes characters, characters from The Walt Disney Company cartoons, or the Batmobile vehicle used by the famous superhero Batman).
The above leads one to think that producers should ensure that the rights to the fictional characters used are properly secured at an early stage.