"Press your clock, Lindsay. I still don't understand why the legality of recording a TV show determines the success or failure of Sony and Universal's lawsuit. Just from what I just said about fair use, you are giving me
explain."
Ronald is making a long-distance call to his personal lawyer Lindsay Doerr. There are big events in Hollywood these days. The Supreme Court may overturn the judgment of the Ninth Circuit Court and re-adjudicate the video infringement case between Sony and Universal.
Sony wins.
For a while, people in Hollywood were panicked. Everyone was saying that the second television crisis would come, and this time it would completely defeat Hollywood.
Ronald heard some rumors but couldn't make sense of them at all. He didn't know who was right, so he simply made a long-distance call to lawyer Lindsay for advice.
"Okay, Ronald, let me sort it out with you...
First, in 1976, Universal Studios sued Sony Corporation, believing that the video recorder technology they manufactured was used to pirate movies, and asked the court to rule that Sony was subject to the automatic relief clause.
As long as Universal discovers that a videotape has pirated Universal's movies, it can automatically seek compensation from Sony and other video technology manufacturers."
"I understand that." Ronald nodded. Legally, if the automatic relief judgment is established, then in the future, film studios will not need to bear the burden of proof, and Japanese companies such as Sony will automatically be considered jointly and severally liable for piracy.
As long as someone is found to be using Sony's video tapes for piracy, Sony will automatically lose money. In this case, the video tape product is equivalent to a death sentence in the American market.
“But 1976 happened to be the time when the copyright law was revised, leaving a hole for individual consumers’ infringement, called fair use.
For example, if the footage of the assassination of the commander-in-chief broadcast by a public television station is used in a documentary about the incident in the future, it will be considered fair use. Because the main purpose of the documentary is not to make profit, but to educate the public."
"I understand that, too." Ronald knew that in this special case, the film would be based on footage of public events broadcast by public television stations, and it could also be used reasonably.
"So Sony's lawyers, starting from this fair use perspective, believe that consumers record TV programs at home and then watch them when they have time, which is a fair use. Because the TV station's programs have educational significance and comply with the first
Amendment speech exception.
Since recording TV programs is legal, video companies cannot be prohibited from selling video recorders and blank video tapes in America. This has brought great convenience to individual piracy. Universal appealed to the circuit court, and the verdict was changed to Universal’s victory. Sony finally appealed.
Supreme Court.
The district court ruled in favor of Sony, and the Ninth Circuit Court reversed its ruling in favor of Universal. But now the situation in the Supreme Court seems to have won the majority support, and Sony can win with a vote of 5:4 and win the lawsuit again in a reverse ruling."
"But I heard from my agent that the Supreme Court voted 6:3 in favor of Universal. Why would it happen now?"
"You are talking about the first discussion. The Supreme Court can have two opportunities to discuss a case. After the first discussion, the judge who wrote the minority opinion knew that he could have a chance to win two votes, so he wrote the minority opinion into a majority opinion.
Tone.
Sure enough, Justice Brennan was persuaded and jumped from leaning towards Universal to leaning towards Sony. Finally, they persuaded the current president to nominate O'Connor, the first female justice in history. So they are about to write
The verdict is 5:4 Sony wins.”
"What happened? Lindsay, if you can rip the videotape casually, won't no one go to the movies?"
“I have read the opinion of the Supreme Court. If an individual user does not have time to watch TV, using a video recorder to record it and watch it later when he has time is a fair use.
The TV station actually likes this invention. When viewers use video recorders to record programs, the TV station's programs will be seen by more people, and the advertisements will be sold at a higher price."
"shxt, then our movie deserves to be unlucky?"
"Does this have a big impact on you? I heard that the plaintiffs are joining six other studios to lobby in Congress to try to pass legislation to ban the sale of blank video tapes and the copying function of private video recorders."
"I can't tell, my agent is already discussing whether to increase TV series business for actor clients."
…
The news that Universal may lose the lawsuit and that videotape manufacturers can enter the American market in a big way spreads more and more widely in Hollywood. Many practitioners are beginning to think about the impact of this ruling on themselves. The Screen Actors Guild has even begun to consider organizing demonstrations.
Shirley Lansing, who is currently producing the movie "Footloose", has also begun to make corresponding adjustments to the production strategy.
"Isn't Michael Cimino back yet?" Lansing asked the assistant.
"His agent said that Cimino has been scouting in Oklahoma and a new version of his script has been sent out and should arrive soon."
"Call his agent and be sure to get through to him. Don't think I don't know about the tricks he played at United Artists. I guess he didn't go to Oklahoma at all and is currently enjoying himself in a strip club in Los Angeles.
Then send me a bunch of bills worth tens of thousands of dollars.
Tell his agent that if he wants me to reimburse those bills, he has to move his fat ass over here."
"Should I tell his agent exactly what he said?"
"Exact words paraphrased." Shirley Lansing waved her hand and asked the assistant to go out.
"Hey," Lansing covered her forehead with one hand and sighed. The Supreme Court's decision came at a really bad time. She had to reconsider whether she wanted to take the vice president position at Paramount.
Production company executives are evaluated based on the success or failure of movies. Video tapes will bring about a lot of piracy, so next year's performance will definitely not be good. If next year's revenue drops too much due to piracy, that smart guy Eisner
You will definitely put the responsibility on yourself.
Instead of doing this, it is better to temporarily leave the management position of the studio and organize an independent production company with partner Stanley Jaffe. Using Jaffe's production ability and his connections in major studios, this will be more effective.
Play to your strengths.
I'll call Jaffe later. He's a smart man and will give me better conditions than his old partner Melnik.
And compared to office politics, she actually prefers to go to the studio to watch filming. Although Lansing is a pretty bad actor, the experience of working with male stars like John Wayne is still fresh in her memory and very enjoyable. Much
Running to the set is not a bad thing.
The assistant knocked on Lansing's door again, "Ms. Lansing, Cimino's express delivery has arrived."
Lansing nodded and opened the package. Inside was a script and a bag of documents. Lansing opened the script and Cimino changed quite a few things. The whole story became darker. The town inside treated outsiders
High school student Lun's methods were even more cruel, and finally the town's pastor united with everyone to expel his family.
"Tsk", Lan Xing frowned. In the trend of blockbuster movies in the past two years, the audience has begun to like comedy and warmth. This kind of movie plot with bitter hatred and deep hatred is no longer very popular. Moreover, Cimino's script
It's a full 140 pages, and it might turn out to be a blockbuster of more than two and a half hours.
Does this Cimino deceive himself like those amateurs who worked at United Artists back in the day? Even if it is ninety minutes long, it cannot be more than a minute.
She opened the document bag, which contained a lot of receipts. Lan Xing flipped through it casually, but luckily it wasn't too much. She was about to sign when she found a piece of paper mixed with the receipts.
"Applying for funds, based on the revised script, I request the producer to pay part of the script adaptation fee in advance, which is US$250,000."
"Ring..." The phone rang and Lan Xing picked up the phone.
"It's Cimino's agent." The assistant's voice sounded through the phone.
"Come in." Lan Xing adjusted her sitting posture so that the air could reach her throat more fully.
"I don't know why your client thought I would be blackmailed by him. Maybe he doesn't know the big things happening in Hollywood right now. Everyone is cutting budgets, but he still dared to offer me $250,000 for the initial script adaptation.
cost.
…You tell him he’s fired.”
Lansing finished speaking and fired Cimino on the spot. He pressed the call button again and found his assistant.
"Give me the agent numbers of two people, director Ron Howard, and actor Tom Cruise."
…
Not everyone's first reaction after hearing the news about the Supreme Court was, like Lansing's, to cut production budgets to adapt to next year's even more sluggish film market.
For example, the three lawyers who recently bought New World Productions were discussing how to find a talent to run the company.
They used the leverage of the financial market to finance the purchase of New World. It turned out that their purpose was not to run a film distribution company. Instead, they felt that Roger Corman's distribution channels had been far underestimated by his due value.
They wanted to buy it, split it up, and sell the production capabilities and distribution capabilities to capital interested in investing in Hollywood. As for the exploitation film library, it was actually worthless, so let Corman take it away.
However, the Supreme Court's decision has frustrated their valuation of the company, and now New World will not be able to sell at the expected price for a while.
The three lawyers are now forced to find a knowledgeable insider to run the new world. If they are lucky and can make a few big-selling movies, it will be too late to get rid of it.
"What did Tom Mount from Universal say?" one lawyer asked another lawyer who contacted Universal.
"He has a distribution guarantee from Universal. In the past few years, the movies produced by his own production company have been distributed by Universal. Moreover, he seems to have found a partner and is preparing to go to Japan for financing, so Mount has no idea about becoming the CEO of New World.
Interested. Where is Paramount you contacted?"
"Katzenberg is very comfortable at Paramount, and he is not willing to take the risk of coming to the New World. Where is the woman at Fox?"
"Lansing was not good enough and was fired by Fox's new boss. She also rejected the headhunter's invitation."
The three of them continued to name several senior executives, but none of the headhunters had any good news.
"It seems that these powerful CEOs and executive vice president-level executives will not come to New World. They are all companies integrating production and distribution. I really don't understand why they look down on New World?"
"It seems that we have to search further. Are there any suitable candidates among the subordinates of these candidates and the vice presidents who report directly to them?"