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When a vampire not called Dracula bested the copyright system, and what it tells us about derivative works

The IPKat

The tale of Nosferatu shows the sometimes-uneasy relationship between copyright protection and the making of derivative works. The movie had entered cinema oblivion. It risks being a hackneyed truism—the purpose of copyright law is to encourage the production of original creative works.

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The most consequential actor in the most consequential movie that you may never have heard of: the Lulu franchise, Louise Brooks, and "Pandora's Box"

The IPKat

The cross-media creative franchise (think "Wonder Woman", from comics to film), is the apotheosis of the commercial potential of derivative works within the copyright system. Here, there, and everywhere, the celluloid adaptation of previously created contents is so 21st century. Her art is so pure that it becomes invisible.

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13 Spooky Copyright Cases, Just in Time for Halloween

Copyright Lately

The case is New Line Cinema v. Cinema Secrets (2000). In 1999, Cinema Secrets licensed the right to sell a Michael Myers Halloween mask from the film’s copyright owner. This prompted a lawsuit by Don Post Studios, which asserted that the Cinema Secrets mask was a copy of its own mask. BMG (1988).

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Miramax, Tarantino and a Fight Over Bright Shiny Objects

Copyright Lately

Miramax claims, among other things, that the preparation and sale of these derivative works constitutes copyright infringement because the contractual rights Tarantino reserved in his 1993 agreement with Miramax don’t cover NFTs. The breathless media reports soon followed.

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