Posts Tagged: "Gone with the Wind"

8th Cir. decision upholds injunction against merchandiser using famous Warner Bros. images

On November 1st, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit (8th Cir.) issued a decision in a case brought by motion picture entertainment company Warner Bros. and appealed by a group of defendants who licensed images culled from publicity material for some of Warner’s most famous entertainment properties. A panel from the 8th Cir. found in favor of Warner Bros. and affirmed an earlier verdict, which has helped to define whether publicity material for films and animated shows are available in the public domain. This decision is the second time that 8th Cir. has issued a judgment in this case.

I’ll get you, my pretty, and your little copyright too!

Last week, the 8th Circuit handed down a ruling saying that knickknack companies can’t use Warner Brothers’ copyrighted images on their merchandise even if they use public domain elements. Shocking. But for reasons unknown, some Hollywood types took this to mean that “every Wizard of Oz movie is in jeopardy”. Ummmm… no. Granted, the issues deal with one of the quirkier concepts in copyright law but just… no. At the end of the day, my pretties, it all boils down to what is protected by copyright, what is not, and what you can do with that stuff.