A lawsuit was filed against two TikTok stars in their early twenties, accusing them of plagiarizing a series called " Bridgerton."
The songwriting duo started writing songs about the popular show for fun and posted them on TikTok. Their videos were so popular that Barlow and Bear released an entire musical soundtrack based on "Bridgerton", then beat out legends like Andrew Lloyd-Webber to win the best musical album award. The impact of social media on culture was demonstrated.
Why would this project be sued now if it has been going on for a long time? On July 26, the duo staged a sold out performance at the Kennedy Center in New York City, featuring The National symphony Orchestra and a collection of Broadway guest stars. In order to end these for-profit performances, the company put its foot down after repeated objections.
The first season of "Bridgerton" broke records for the most viewers for a single season on a streaming service.
Barlow and Bear's lawyers first asked for the blessing of the streaming giant in March of 2021. According to its lawsuit, it said that it wouldn't authorize the activity, but wouldn't stand in the way.
The Kennedy Center performance was too much for the company. According to legal experts, Barlow and Bear did not have permission from the streaming service to stage their event.
An assistant professor at the University of Colorado Boulder who studies internet law said that the case was interesting. Law school exams are made of this.
"Barlow & Bear's conduct began on social media, but stretches 'fan fiction' well past its breaking point" Intellectual property rights are blatantly violated.
The legal reality isn't as cut-and-dry as it seems.
The fair use doctrine states that copyrighted material can be used without consent.
A lot of people think thatBarlow and Bear are commercializing it because they are. Whether something is commercial or not is not part of a fair use analysis.
There are many examples of fan works being determined in court to be fair use, though there isn't as much case law and precedent, since these disputes are often settled before they reach a judge.
A federal judge in New York ruled in favor of the off-Broadway play "3C" in 2015, which offered a dark, more adult spin on the TV show "Three's Company." The judge ruled that the play was not a threat to the original show because it was a parody and not an actual play.
Commercial fan works didn't fare well in court At San Diego Comic-Con in 2014, the short film "Prelude to Axanar", based on "Star Trek", was shown. The creators of the short film decided to make a feature-length film after raising over a million dollars from fans. When Paramount sued the filmmakers, the judge sided with them.
Intellectual property law used to only apply to professional artists and lawyers. Why wouldn't you know anything about the law before the internet?
Teenagers writing fan fiction have had to navigate the tricky territory of sharing their work. It's not uncommon to see copy-pasted rants on fan fiction websites in which the author states that they don't own characters, but they don't do much Archive of Our Own forbids its writers from soliciting money from readers in order to avoid murky legal situations.
Rebecca Tushnet is a Harvard Law School professor who is on the legal team at the Organization for Transformingative Works, which runs AO3.
Fan works have generally slid under the radar if they are not monetized. The copyright holder might pay more attention once a fan creator makes money.
Tushnet said that when a work is commercial, it has to do a lot more to add something new. Fan fiction is not a commercial activity.
"Bridgerton" isn't the first media property to inspire a musical. The Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical was a one-night charity event for the Actors Fund. The question of fair use was irrelevant for that production.
Disney told the Los Angeles Times that they don't have development plans for the title. The Actors Fund would like to thank all of the online theater makers for their generous donations.
A parody of the "Harry Potter" books was written and performed by students at the University of Michigan. Warner Brothers noticed when the young theater troupe uploaded the performance to the video sharing website. The members of Starkid have stated that they reached an agreement with Warner Brothers to not charge admission for any "Harry Potter" related performances.
As soon as Barlow and Bear began to make money off of their "Bridgerton"-inspired songs, their work became a target for the streaming service. Is it possible to turn a TV show into a musical? Tushnet doesn't think it's a strong argument
Tushnet said, "whether it's parodic or not, you want to do something noticeably different from the original, other than just translation."
Barlow and Bear have yet to respond to the complaint. They could either take the case to court or settle with the streaming service.
The only argument they could make was a fair use argument.
Barlow and Bear haven't made a fair use case yet, so it doesn't argue against it. A potential economic loss from the unauthorized musical could be relevant in a case against fair use.
The Queen's Ball: A Bridgerton Experience was held in six cities in March of 2022. The unofficial musical makes it difficult for the company to host in-person events.
TikTok is making way for new fandom communities that are growing independently of decades-old fan networks. The institutional knowledge of long-time fans who have fought to protect non- commercial fan works is lost.
Fiesler hoped that the case would be settled. I might worry about precedent-setting if this goes to court.
Netflix loses 970,000 subscribers, its largest quarterly loss ever
Super fans, franchises and unique content could be the answer to reducing streaming churn
All Rights Reserved © 2024
