Would this be legal to do?

[igor.pinchevskiy]

Hello fellow Mozzers!

I was wondering if anyone knows if this would be legal to do? Can we use a part of a movie or a TV show lets say 10-15 seconds in our commercials for the website? We are selling a product that has been shown (non branded) in many movies and TV shows that characters have a  funny and hard time using and so do many millions of people. We want to create short 30 second video ads and post them on youtube and our site. The 30 second video would include a part of a movie or a TV show unedited of course. Tried to search the web but couldn't find any real answers, thought maybe some of you have some knowledge or input on this subject.

Thank you in advance!

Igor

[KyleChamp]

Not without permission to do so.

[RebekahMay]

I am not a lawyer, so this should not be construed as legal advice

I am fairly positive that would violate copyright laws, intellectual property laws, and possibly and right of publicity.  You would need to get permission from the creators of the TV shows/commercials to use the clips.  You should consult with a lawyer/attorney to be safe. Many will offer free consultations.  Some things may be protected by the Parody law.

If you do go ahead with this, I would also suggest purchasing liability insurance first to ensure you are protected should anyone sue you.

I suggest checking out some of these videos from Reel SEO about legal issues when creating videos

http://www.youtube.com/legalvideoguys

[SEODinosaur]

Probably not legal, copyright infringement.. However, I would not worry too much if someone has a problem with it they will contact you to take it down, make sure you do so.

[igor.pinchevskiy]

Guys thank you so much for your responses! I kind of had a feeling we would need to get permission from the owners... I think contacting a lawyer is the best way to go to be 100% certain.

[DanielFreedman]

I'm not a lawyer nor do I play one on the Internet.

But I am a former TV and publishing executive who dealt with these sorts of issues all the time.

And I can tell you that your proposed use of copyrighted material for your own commercial benefit raises every possible alarm bell. My advice: don't even bother consulting a lawyer. You will just waste a lot of money for a statement of these obvious alternatives:

1. Forget the whole idea

2. Negotiate with with the copyright holder to license the material (with little chance of success, even if you are willing to pay a hefty fee)

If you use the material without licensing it, you will almost certainly be served with a takedown notice. The matter will likely end if you take down the material. If you don't take down the material, you will likely be sued and incur substantial legal fees on the way to a settlement.