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MacGyver creator seeks to stop MacGruber movie |
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The THR,Esq. blog of The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that lawyers for MacGyver creator, Lee Zlotoff, have sent cease-and-desist letters to Relativity Media, the studio that produced the “MacGruber” film.
Paul Mayersohn, a lawyer for Mr. Zlotoff, told The Hollywood Reporter, “We feel they’re infringing our rights.” Mr. Mayersohn added that he's meeting with litigators to determine a course of action, which might include filing a copyright and/or trademark lawsuit and attempting to get an injunction against the film's release.
Other legal experts told the publication that the MacGruber film may be protected under free speech and fair use laws.
The article also speculates that this case has an interesting twist, because both films are being developed simultaneously with the parody being set to release before the original giving rise to the question of whether the parody could impact the market for the original, which is one of the considerations for fair use. Lee Zlotoff's lawyer indicated that an unfair competition claim could also be part of their lawsuit.
This also revives hope that the MacGyver movie is still being worked on and hasn't been forgotten as many fans had feared.
Read full article here
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Beachbead |
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Heck ya, I hope the MacGruber movie gets shut down.
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MacDriver |
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QUOTE (Traveller @ 4 February 2010 - 09:27 PM) | [QUOTE A 90 second skit on SNL is a lot different to a full theatrical released movie and from what I understand the law suit is regarding the movie only, not the skits on SNL, so RDA's appearance on the skits has no bearing on this case, which is all about copyright.]
Yes, they are different. Still, the movie is a spinoff from the SNL skits, without them there wouldn't be a movie, and if I were a lawyer for the MacGruber camp I would point to the fact that MacGyver teamed up with MacGruber. I think I could use that to my advantage. Even if the lawsuit is about copyright, you know as well as I do that lawyers always come up with circumstantial evidence to help their case, and I wouldn't be surprised if they will use this. |
Yeah I agree, that certainly, even if irrelevant to the case, would still impact the case if mentioned, I would imagine. So, I agree Rocky that this tells us Zlotoff isn't completely asleep at the wheel. I am of the mind that the MacGruber movie cannot hurts things at all if allowed to proceed. I personally feel that it would be a more natural order to have the clowns and jesters come out and warm up the audience with some B-movie antics before unveiling the masterpiece. However, I hope Zlotoff isn't intimidated by the movie. It's plain greed and fear to me if he can't move over and make room for something that isn't attempting to take the place of MacGyver at all.As for copyright, I mean heck, surely they got permission to use the MacGyver credit scenes for the skits on television- any fan immediately recognizes the opening credits from MacGruber. Then the name was clearly changed, the nature of the character is radically different, it's a different genre- I mean, what, is it going to be a likeness lawsuit? I just don't see the likeness or infringement. I'd obviously have to see the movie to be sure, but in what episode did Mac fire guns? (Okay, trick question ) Or assemble a team? Or act like a blistering idiot? I mean really, what case does Zlotoff have? Surely Loaded Weapon didn't have to get permission to spoof Lethal Weapon, and that one was even more similar in my book, as in, allusions to specific events and scenes from the Lethal Weapon films. This news also douses the hope I had burning that RDA might cameo in the film, since he had done so for SNL. I hope to see the movie still materialize, it will only go to further the movie, whenever slowpoke Zlotoff makes it, in my humble opinion.
"It's a real ugly thing to see in a dog. It's even worse in a human being." --The Golden Triangle
"I'd like a 16-inch pizza, run it through the garden, hold the chovies." -- The Eraser
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You know i hope RDA doesn't make a cameo in the movie, i just can't see RDA haveing anything to do with it since I saw the trailer, MacGruber is everything that MaGyver is not. meaning MacGyver is more of a man then MacGruber will ever be.
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I'd love to see the premier in March get really negative feedback.. or even better, the audience starts leaving. In all honesty I don't think I would be so negative about it if I could see that it was intelligent, clever humor, but instead all I'm seeing is toilet humor and I actually don't think it's worthy of it's subject. I just found an interesting little bit in wikipedia about the fair use law which links to the Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc. case which was the defining "Fair Use" case in US law. The Wiki also lead me to the actual fair use code which the whole case will be worked around I guess. QUOTE (TITLE 17 - 107 : Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use) | Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include—
(1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
(2) the nature of the copyrighted work;
(3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors. |
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MacGguber super bowl ads which looks like it's just scences from when RDA showed up, all they did was change up some words and scenes. MacGguber super bowl ads
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MacDriver |
Posted: 12 February 2010 - 09:11 AM
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QUOTE (Rockatteer @ 12 February 2010 - 10:59 PM) | From the trailers, there doesn't seem to be a hell of a lot of actual making fun of MacGyver in this movie. It's more like they've made an anti-MacGyver. Swearing and toilet humor is not parody... |
I hadn't thought of it quite that way, but I agree with you. Now that I really think about it, movies that are parodies that I love like hot shots, loaded weapon, Scary Movie, etc. are all funny because the demeanor of the character stays the same but is exaggerated. MacGruber could be funner if MacGyver was walking into extremely dangerous inner city situations blissfully oblivious to the danger- or like that Rambo scene from UHF, walking slowly toward a man firing full auto at him. Things like that play up the mild lack of reality from the original because it's pointing out with exaggeration what you subconsciously already think- aka "MacGyver probably couldn't have just run away from getting shot at by 10 trained soldiers (The Gauntlet)" etc.
Then your point is quite true that this movie instead creates a different person entirely. So I suppose it could be a funny movie if taken for a standalone comedy, but they could just as easily have made it a genre parody of all action movies, not tried to associate it with MacGyver, and it would have been fine. But, the movie was obviously developed as a spinoff of the SNL sketch which started with the right scenario- ticking time bomb, locked in a room etc- but then used the wrong kind of (typical SNL) humor to really make it much of a true parody.
I am interested in hearing someday (if the movie is shot down) what (if any) true parodies were made in the film. Like that scene at the end of the PG trailer, there is a joke made about him not wanting to pay for a parking meter- not all that unlike the MasterCard commercial where Mac spends very little on his supplies (in contrast to the usual exorbitant spending in those commercials). Funny, in RDA's commentary of that commercial, he said he was drawn to participate because it was done respectfully- yet he was happy to portray Mac as the womanizing dead beat dad on MacGruber- so that kinda shocked me- the MacGruber movie would have seemed like even more of a stretch had he not done that. Anyway, I hope it has a lot of true parody content- it's possible that the 2:00 we've seen of the movie doesn't do true justice to the whole thing- but unlikely. Only time will really tell on that.
"It's a real ugly thing to see in a dog. It's even worse in a human being." --The Golden Triangle
"I'd like a 16-inch pizza, run it through the garden, hold the chovies." -- The Eraser
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Beachbead |
Posted: 15 February 2010 - 12:47 PM
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I do hope they pull the plug on this movie as well.
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