Copyright, Patent, and blueprints?

[ONEYE]

I know props are copyrighted, but have they had patents taken out on them?
Where would one find blueprints? For instance, the Terminator chip, or endoskeleton?

 

[Mike J.]

Hmm. I do recall Nike taking out some design patents on the BTTFII shoes.

Design patent 329,126.

You'd have to check the US Patent & Trademark Office. They have a search engine that can help, but the terms are probably going to be very generic. The Nike one says 'The ornamental design for an element of [shoe] upper.'

Your best bet would be to search for the names of the prominent artists.


-Mike

 

[exoray]

I know props are copyrighted, but have they had patents taken out on them?
Where would one find blueprints? For instance, the Terminator chip, or endoskeleton?

Generally no, the copyright coverage is what most props qualify for as they are artistic creative works for film and don't really fall into patent territory...

Patents require "any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof"

Artistic works alone don't usually qualify unless like the BTTF shoe as given in an example above creates a "useful" item like a wearable shoe...

Also the patent process is long, dragged out and costly vs a simple copyright... Cost vs protection value isn't really there unless you plan on enforcing the patent and marketing the idea...

 

[Mike J.]

Cost vs protection value isn't really there unless you plan on enforcing the patent and marketing the idea...

Which explains Nike's decision, and their recent launch of look-alike shoes.


-Mike J.

 

[razorsharp192]

how can you check whether a certain prop has been copyrighted? if something wasnt, and i got the copywright for it, could i then produce "official" replicas?

 

[exoray]

how can you check whether a certain prop has been copyrighted? if something wasnt, and i got the copywright for it, could i then produce "official" replicas?

It was copyrighted the minute it was made... There is no "whether" in the US any longer, when it's created so is a copyright... Also the movie as a whole and all it's content are copyrighted over and above and previous individual copyrights...

And you can't "get" the copyright for some else's design... You can pay for rights to use it, or it if the copyright has expired it's a free for all, but beware nothing current will expire anytime soon...

 

[Tan Djarka]

how can you check whether a certain prop has been copyrighted? if something wasnt, and i got the copywright for it, could i then produce "official" replicas?

In short, as the previous post said, NO. Even if the existing copyright expired, they still wouldn't be "official" replicas, as they were not endorsed by the studio(s) or creator(s). Legal perhaps, but not official.

 

[razorsharp192]

how can you check if a copyright has expired? is there a site you can search on?

 

[LizardJedi]

how can you check if a copyright has expired? is there a site you can search on?

Different countries have different rules.

The US, in a nutshell, if its pre-1978, copyright expires 120 yrs from creation. Post-1978, 70 years after creator's death. There's a lot more to it though.

 

[exoray]

There's a lot more to it though.

Yep, different rules different countries and even different rules that apply to film and movie copyrights over other copyrights... And the 'blunder' in the UK where they ruled that movie props were 'industrial designs' and not art giving them a much shorter term...