|
 Friday
the 13th screenwriter Victor Miller now owns the franchise. He sued
under a provision of copyright law that allows authors to terminate a grant of
rights and reclaim ownership 35 years after publishing. The film’s producers
alleged that Miller wrote the first film as a work-made-for-hire after film
series producer Sean Cunningham came up with an idea to tie-in with the success
of the first Halloween. They claimed that Miller’s termination notice was
unlawful. But Miller’s attorney Marc Toberoff argued that while the screenplay
was clearly commissioned as part of a motion picture but it was never made clear
that Miller was doing work-made-for-hire. U.S. District Court Judge Stefan
Underhill ruled that the screenplay wasn’t a work for hire, the terms were wrong
and that labor law doesn’t consider Miller as an employee but an independent
contractor. Because ownership was in question no new films could be made or
anything else using Jason. So Miller owns the rights to the character in the US
but not overseas. The judge did leave the producers the out of trying to
copyright the adult Jason character and never referring to his past. |
