A Copyright Question

[MichWolv]

Went to Six Flags Great America on Sunday. They have a new ride called Buccaneer Battle, which is pirate-themed. The entrance platform has pirate quotes all over the walls, most of which are quite humorous. One of them is:

Me? I'm dishonest, and a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest. Honestly. It's the honest ones you want to watch out for, because you can never predict when they're going to do something incredibly... stupid.
Capt. Jack Sparrow

So I ask the following -- how is Six Flags allowed to use such quote? Does someobody other than Disney have rights to PotC movies? Would Disney have authorized such a thing, even for a fee? And would Six Flags have paid such a fee? Is this covered by the Fair Use doctrine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use)?

For what its worth, the ride itself was a lot of fun, but you better be ready to get wet.

 

[EPCOT Explorer]

It sounds like it is Fair Doctrine seeing it's a movie...But to me it does not seem Kosher.:lol:

Frankly, I'm surprised that Disney does not have a copyright on the name.:shrug:

 

[SirNim]

This doesn't appear to be a case of fair use since the quote is used as an element of the theming of an attraction which is meant to draw guests to the park and thus generate revenue. And it's not a parody either since Buccaneer Battle is intrinsically pirate-themed.

From the Copyright.gov website:

The 1961 Report of the Register of Copyrights on the General Revision of the U.S. Copyright Law cites examples of activities that courts have regarded as fair use: "quotation of excerpts in a review or criticism for purposes of illustration or comment; quotation of short passages in a scholarly or technical work, for illustration or clarification of the author’s observations; use in a parody of some of the content of the work parodied; summary of an address or article, with brief quotations, in a news report; reproduction by a library of a portion of a work to replace part of a damaged copy; reproduction by a teacher or student of a small part of a work to illustrate a lesson; reproduction of a work in legislative or judicial proceedings or reports; incidental and fortuitous reproduction, in a newsreel or broadcast, of a work located in the scene of an event being reported."

It seems, therefore, that this isn't covered by fair use and that some sort of permission had to have been granted, with or without compensation included...

 

[Master Yoda]

I can't see how it would really fall under the fair use doctrine as that is meant more for nonprofit, teaching, news reporting, etc. I also don't see Disney letting something like that out.

My guess would fall under kind of a conspiracy theory umbrella. We all know that Six Flags is in big financial trouble and would probably do next to anything to get people in the parks right now. Sooner or later Disney will find out about this and, rightly so, sue them for copyright infringement. Six Flags will then play the victim and the press and the sheeple will eat it up because we all know that Disney is pure evil at heart and simply wants to crush all opposition through any means necessary. Attendance at Six Flags goes up and they replace the offending statement with something that makes a jab at the mouse.

 

[mcjaco]

At BB's media day, I noticed that one, as well as, "Yo Ho, Yo Ho. A pirate's life for me." On the station wall.

I wondered the same thing.

 

[lebeau]

You can put a movie quote anywhere you want. It's not like they put up a copyrighted image or called the ride "Jack Sparrow's Pirate Adventure."

 

[MousDad]

Nice to see Six Flags is posting an unauthorized copy of a work under copyright protection (which is what it is).

Unless, of course they have written permission from the copyright owner.

Or, they have worked out some kind of licensing agreement and pay the negotiated fees to the copyright owner.

Or, Walt is cyrogenically frozen under Bay Lake.

 

[mkt]

This one is debatable and is best left to a court, as opposed to the differing interpretations that different attorneys will give. Obviously an attorney working for Disney will view it as a violation, whereas an attorney operating for Six Flags will view it as fair use.

As it's phrased, it's even more debatable... if it were something like "Like Jack Sparrow said.... " then IMO it would lean more towards fair-use, and if they were to completely omit the Jack Sparrow bit, it would lean more towards an obvious violation... but as it is, it's in a very grey area.

 

[MichWolv]

This one is debatable and is best left to a court, as opposed to the differing interpretations that different attorneys will give. Obviously an attorney working for Disney will view it as a violation, whereas an attorney operating for Six Flags will view it as fair use.

As it's phrased, it's even more debatable... if it were something like "Like Jack Sparrow said.... " then IMO it would lean more towards fair-use, and if they were to completely omit the Jack Sparrow bit, it would lean more towards an obvious violation... but as it is, it's in a very grey area.

Interesting take in the second paragraph there. I looked to see if the quote was identified as coming from PotC:TCotBP, and it wasn't. Just quoted Capt. Jack Sparrow as if he were a real person or in the public domain. Thought it was odd.

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

Went to Six Flags Great America on Sunday. They have a new ride called Buccaneer Battle, which is pirate-themed. The entrance platform has pirate quotes all over the walls, most of which are quite humorous. One of them is:

Me? I'm dishonest, and a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest. Honestly. It's the honest ones you want to watch out for, because you can never predict when they're going to do something incredibly... stupid.
Capt. Jack Sparrow

So I ask the following -- how is Six Flags allowed to use such quote? Does someobody other than Disney have rights to PotC movies? Would Disney have authorized such a thing, even for a fee? And would Six Flags have paid such a fee? Is this covered by the Fair Use doctrine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use)?

For what its worth, the ride itself was a lot of fun, but you better be ready to get wet.

You also didn't see the PoTC "Yo Ho Yo Ho A Pirates Life For Me" And the Peter Pan Quote as well?...I'm not sure if it's because Six Flags is now run by a bunch of former ESPN Execs but..I'm sure they were well aware of it if they rub elbows with Disney....I mean heck they Sell Disney Merchandise and Had advertising for Wall-E last year...:lookaroun

 

[MichWolv]

You also didn't see the PoTC "Yo Ho Yo Ho A Pirates Life For Me" And the Peter Pan Quote as well?...I'm not sure if it's because Six Flags is now run by a bunch of former ESPN Execs but..I'm sure they were well aware of it if they rub elbows with Disney....I mean heck they Sell Disney Merchandise and Had advertising for Wall-E last year...:lookaroun

On the Peter Pan quote, I wasn't sure if that came from the Disney version vs. originating in Barrie's stories which are over 100 years old and probably off copyright.

As for advertising Wall-E, it is clear that Six Flags will put up advertising for anybody who pays. The number of Miracle Whip ads was truly nauseating.