Really, where are the Disney lawyers to do something about these rip offs!

JJandJanice

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btw SCARY MOVIE and SCREAM are both owned by Disney (Miramax under Dimension film, dimension film all under 2005 still belong to disney even tho the winstins took the name with them when they started TWC, The Winstin Company) so there wouldnt be a prob there.
Yes that's true. But the point I was trying to make is that the people who made Scream probably wouldn't be happy if their movie idea was stolen. But Scary Movie isn't a rip off, it's just a comdey parody.

Personally, I think they SHOULD change the copyright law to that extent that when they release a movie theatrically that a similar movie made SOLELY for the purpose of cloning it and stealing potential profits should be illegal. Having the same idea shouldn't be a problem, but willfully copying it to cut into a company's high budget film that people worked on for years? That IS theft of intellectual property.
Yeah that's how I feel totally. I mean maybe as mention before, maybe Disney isn't worried about these lame rip offs. But in my honest opinion, it's not a matter of whether or not Disney should be worried about these awful movies, it's a matter of just not letting them get away with it. To me, these movies are works of art and to see these cheap studios just do a rip off of these works of art is just wrong to me. Like you said it's theft alright. :sympathy:
 

Beakerfan

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And honestly, using Weird Al to prove your point was a pretty weak example. Weird Al actually DOES seek permission from the artists before he does any parody song of any song. If he didn't, oh believe me there would be a massive lawsuit, :smirk:, unless he changed the music and words just enough that it doesn't totally resemble the original, but fans will be able to tell it's a parody. But he doesn't do that, he seeks the artist's permission than uses either the excat same music with different words or the excat same words with different music. In fact more than a few rappers have been taken to court over "simpling" other artists music without seeking any permission. A famous example include Villian Ice's song "Ice Ice Baby" giving no credit to Queen and David Bowie's "Under Pressure."

The only time Al had a problem was with Coolio for a parody of his song "Gangsta's Paradise" which Al did the parody "Amish Paradise." Coolio clamed he never gave Al permission to do the song and Al's reps said Coolio's studio said it was fine. But that's since been water under the bridge now.

What you're talking about is a TOTALLY different thing from what I'm talking about. This cheap knock offs aren't doing a parody of Disney's work of Up or Princess and the Frog, they're totally ripping them off. Like Drtooth said they're making money off grandparents or whomever who can't tell the difference right off the bat.
Um, I don't mean to be rude, but brush up on your Weird Al if you're going to argue against my point. Al gets permission out of politeness, he's said so himself. There is no law that requires someone to get permission to make a parody because you cannot "own" a set of notes and beats. The whole deal between Coolio and Al was that Coolio changed his mind and got mad that Al had made the parody. There was never any real legal issue, just a tantrum-throwing rapper issue. I used Weird Al as an example because just like a person cannot get in trouble for making a parody, one cannot get in trouble for making a knock-off. The only way they *would* get in trouble is if they tried to pass it as the real thing.
 

JJandJanice

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Um, I don't mean to be rude, but brush up on your Weird Al if you're going to argue against my point. Al gets permission out of politeness, he's said so himself. There is no law that requires someone to get permission to make a parody because you cannot "own" a set of notes and beats. The whole deal between Coolio and Al was that Coolio changed his mind and got mad that Al had made the parody. There was never any real legal issue, just a tantrum-throwing rapper issue. I used Weird Al as an example because just like a person cannot get in trouble for making a parody, one cannot get in trouble for making a knock-off. The only way they *would* get in trouble is if they tried to pass it as the real thing.
Well really Coolio never made any legal move. So you're right. But, you're right that really Weird Al doesn't need permission from the original artists, like I stated copyright laws are very jaded to say the least even with the "fair use" law. So I'm sorry for my past comments with Werid Al, cause you're totally right about that.

However, here's the thing. Whenever Weird Al does a parody of a song the original artists collect royalties. Is Disney collecting royalties for these knock offs? Nope. So bottom law they are pretty much stealing from Disney's work.
 

frogboy4

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How about this character from a Japanese tv show that I have seen before. Remind you of anyone?

http://www.tbs.co.jp/kankan/top.html
Oooh! Actually Disney could sue if this was made available in the US. Not sure about Japan. The PMS colors in the clip art are identical to Kermit's. In essence, this is a poorly drawn Kermit with the inner eye designs swapped out, a pink nose added, a tuft of hair added and balls added to the fingers and collar. There are definite trademarked nuances of facial and body shapes. The disturbing plush costume doesn't resemble the drawn representation, so that's safe.
 

shimauta

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Oooh! Actually Disney could sue if this was made available in the US. Not sure about Japan. The PMS colors in the clip art are identical to Kermit's. In essence, this is a poorly drawn Kermit with the inner eye designs swapped out, a pink nose added, a tuft of hair added and balls added to the fingers and collar. There are definite trademarked nuances of facial and body shapes. The disturbing plush costume doesn't resemble the drawn representation, so that's safe.
Agreed, that plush costume is quite disturbing... I imagine they would have done something if they could. I have gotten used to seeing ripoffs in SE Asia and China, but this one here in Japan was pretty blatant. This is a fairly popular tv program too.
 

D'Snowth

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The truth is, it's not just Disney who can't really file lawsuits against other companies because of eerie similarities, that's just how the business works - television and movies have a tendancy to carbon-copy themselves, they always have, and they always will, and there's really nothing that can be done about it, although some HAVE tried...

Aside from JHC suing the producers of Wimzie's House for an unknown motive (they said it was because the characters looked too muppety, but then again, look at shows like Between the Lions, etc); the producers of the epic WW2 movie Stalag 17 sued the producers of Hogan's Heroes, because the show was essentially a rip-off of the movie - both set in German prison camps, both had put-upon Kommandants, both has Sergeants-of-the-guard named Schultz, both had savvy con-artists of protagonists, etc. Unfortunately, the producers of Stalag 17 were unsuccessful in their lawsuit.

After Bewitched became so popular after its first season on ABC, NBC immediately tried to cash in on the premise of a magical sitcom, and commissioned Sidney Sheldon to create I Dream of Jeannie, and Sheldon himself actually consulted with Bewitched director William Asher, admitting he was working on a "rip off" on how to put the show together. Sometimes, two parties like that can actually work together in a professional manner - M*A*S*H and Hogan's Heroes had some of the same staff members.

We're all familiar with the movie Twister with Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton, right? With that severe outbreak of tornadoes in the midwest? Well, did you know that very same year, there was a TV movie made called Night of the Twisters? With a smalltown bracing itself for a severe tornado outbreak? Or how about when we got Happy Feet in 2006 about a penguin who loved to tap dance, then a year later we got Surf's Up about a penguin who loved to surf? Not only that, but Surf's Up had a character who looked almost exactly like T.R. Rooster.

There's another issue too - characters from different projects that look very similar to each other... in 1988, Murakami-Wolf-Swenson produced half of Season Six of Alvin and The Chipmunks, and that same year, a new character was added to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles who was so obviously designed based on Jeanette of The Chipettes. And speaking of which, an artist friend of mine has told me that she once submitted an idea to MWS of a female Turtle character named Mona Lisa, but they told her they couldn't and wouldn't accept ideas like that... but shortly afterwards, saw the appearance of a one-shot character - a female lizard named Mona Lisa, who was essentially the same character.

Rip-offs are a part of the industry, and there's really nothing that can be done about; yes, some parties CAN and might even try to file lawsuits, but they are often times futile, and accomplish nothing. The only time I can think of such a lawsuit working regards Sid and Marty Krofft Vs. McDonalds - McDonalds asked the Kroffts to create a concept for them for their commercials based on Pufnstuf; the Kroffts and their team designed and built the costumed characters (Mayor McCheese, Apple Pie Trees, etc) and the sets, but McD said they decided to pull the plug on the project... that was supposedly the end of that, but then months later Sid saw that McD went ahead with the commercials anyway and aired them. With that, Sid and Marty sued McD, and they actually won the lawsuit, but they didn't receive a settlement until thirteen years later, because they were a small, independent company vs. a big corporation.
 

Drtooth

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How about this character from a Japanese tv show that I have seen before. Remind you of anyone?

http://www.tbs.co.jp/kankan/top.html
I wouldn't be me if I didn't say this... but that looks an awful lot like how Kermit would look if he was created by Sid and Morty Kroft. Something about the eyes... and the weird pink pimple on his face passing as a nose. You know, sort of like how H.R. Puffenstuff looks a little like Ernie.
 

shimauta

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I'm not exactly sure, but I believe that link just gave me a virus.
Hmmm, no problems on my end. Tokyo Broadcasting System is one of the largest television stations in Japan, I doubt they would have viruses...
 
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