Law and the Film Inndustry

There are multiple legal issues and battles in the Entertainment industry. There are multiple reasons for these lawsuits. Protection of works and intellectual property, money owed and rights to works. There has been three interesting lawsuits that have happened recently. They pertain to the film industry and involve different aspects of legal issues.

            One of the most recent lawsuits happening in Hollywood involves Warner Brothers Studios. The studio picked up a film adaptation of the novel “The Ghostman”. This novel was written and released in 2013 by Roger Hobbs. The plot of the film and book is about the operations of heists. There is now a lawsuit for copyright infringement being filed from Mike O’Dea. He  is stating that the adaptation has "use of the identical theme, central character and title” for his film that is currently in post-production. This is an interesting concept of copyright infringement. There is not much information on the films that can determine how much this can conflict with each other.

            Another lawsuit happening in Hollywood involves the writers for GI Joe and the films original writers. When presented with the job for the first movie writers David Elliot and Paul Lovett was told that they would have an option to pitch ideas for the sequel to the film.  Both writers were eager to be considered for this job and put in 100 hours of material to pitch to the company. At the end of the pitch they were not awarded with the opportunity of being writers for the sequel.  When the sequel was released the two writers witnessed their material being used in the film. There was no credit given to the writers for the work and ideas that was used. Now they are suing for the money owed for using their material in the new film. I feel like this is a legitimate reason for the lawsuit.

            Lastly, another lawsuit involves a contract for the film Godzilla. There will be a remake of the film Godzilla coming soon. For right now, three producers are suing the production company because they were let go from the film. For this lawsuit arbitration was denied to settle this case. The content of this lawsuit involves the details of the contract. Having full knowledge of the details of the contract will help settle and keep a peace of mind for those involve.

            When it comes to the entertainment industry it is important to understand what is going on. Having knowledge of these lawsuits will help you if you run into any problems yourself.