In a message dated 2/2/01 3:12:40 PM, [log in to unmask] writes:

<< Can anyone tell me what the related legalities are to lifting a clip or
two of

a Charlie Chaplin film and putting it onto CD-Rom for a book?  I don't want

the entire film, just one or two clips of scenes.  Is this analogous to

quoting part of a printed text? >>

Dear Carol,

Unless the film is public domain (anything he did before 1923) and not using
the music someone newly created for it, or the intertitles they might have
been newly written, I wouldn't do it. First, it isn't legal, and second, the
Chaplin estate (along with Disney) is fairly "active" in suing infringers.
There's even a joke about this in one of the Simpson episodes!

However, this is what University lawyers are paid to investigate and you
shouldn't just take my (or anyone else who's not an expert) word for it.

Dennis Doros
Milestone Film & Video
PO Box 128
Harrington Park, NJ 07640
Phone: (201) 767-3117 or (800) 603-1104
Fax: (201) 767-3035
Email: [log in to unmask]
www.milestonefilms.com

----
For past messages, visit the Screen-L Archives:
http://bama.ua.edu/archives/screen-l.html