{"id":2954,"date":"2015-01-19T15:21:46","date_gmt":"2015-01-19T15:21:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/?p=57"},"modified":"2019-01-24T09:02:39","modified_gmt":"2019-01-24T09:02:39","slug":"copyrighting-a-dream","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/copyrighting-a-dream\/","title":{"rendered":"COPYRIGHTING A DREAM"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Selma and the Intellectual Property involving Dr. King\u2019s famed speeches.<\/h2>\n

Best Picture Oscar Nominee, Selma is a a cinematic portrayal of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.\u2019s legendary march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama in support of the Voter Right\u2019s Act of 1965. Despite the film\u2019s many accolades, history buffs have been quick to raise criticism for its technically inaccurate portrayals of King\u2019s famous speeches. In an effort to avoid violating the copyrights held by King\u2019s estate \u2013 which have been reportedly licensed to DreamWorks and Warner Bros. for use in an upcoming film \u2013 director Ava DuVernay chose instead to paraphrase Dr. King\u2019s works. The commentary surrounding this decision has run the gamut from enthusiastically supporting the King estate\u2019s exercise of its rights, to decrying the copyright system for failing to make such socially important content available for free dissemination. It is easy to be swept up by the emotion displayed on both sides of the spectrum, especially when King\u2019s work has had such a profound effect in shaping the social and political climate we face today. Still, it is important to put the copyrights at issue into perspective.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Frustrating though it may be to lack unfettered access to King\u2019s speeches, the court of public opinion is not be the body that determines which art and which technology should be protected by the law. Indeed, the copyright and patent laws that govern such things have been put in place precisely in order to ensure that the often artful and intangible objects of our creation are indiscriminately provided with some manner of protection in the same way that our personal property is.<\/p>\n

The issue here is not resolved by arguing that King\u2019s speeches are so important that performing them verbatim should fall within the realm of allowable, license-free \u201cfair use.\u201d Indeed, had DuVernay proposed using King\u2019s speeches for the purpose of criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research, using the his words without a license would arguably be allowable. Instead, DuVernay would have used the work to draw a profit for herself and her associates through a wildly successful feature film. And it is precisely this unlicensed commercialization of his copyrighted works that King\u2019s estate has consistently fought against with support from the courts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Selma and the Intellectual Property involving Dr. King\u2019s famed speeches. Best Picture Oscar Nominee, Selma is a a cinematic portrayal of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.\u2019s legendary march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama in support of the Voter Right\u2019s Act of 1965. Despite the film\u2019s many accolades, history buffs have been quick to raise criticism…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3245,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-copyright-law"],"yoast_head":"\nCOPYRIGHTING A DREAM - Omni Legal Group Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/copyrighting-a-dream\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"COPYRIGHTING A DREAM - Omni Legal Group Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Selma and the Intellectual Property involving Dr. King\u2019s famed speeches. 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