What do psycho-killer Jason Voorhees and bass-player extraordinaire Derek Smalls have in common? They want their copyrights back! Well, at least their creators do. The first copyright transfer termination battles for sound recording and musical composition copyrights began in 2013, but has yet to hit the film industry in as substantial a manner as the music industry. That may now be changing.
Harry Shearer, one of the creators of “This is Spinal Tap,” recently filed a suit against Vivendi and Studio Canal alleging improprieties in accounting and is concurrently filing a copyright transfer termination notice for the Spinal Tap songs and film that he co-created.
On the same day it was reported that screenwriter Victor Miller has also filed a copyright transfer termination notice for the screenplay to “Friday the 13th”.
Of course, these disputes are just beginning, and the current copyright owners look set to push the same arguments that record and publishing companies have been for the last few years. Namely, that the copyrights were not assigned, but rather were works made for hire, and therefore not subject to termination.
For more information, see http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/friday-13th-author-disputes-producers-939234 and http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/harry-shearer-files-125-million-939205.