IAC DISCUSSION FORUMS

Help!

I’m an amateur club film maker who was asked by a friend to film his son
at work. After gaining written permission from his company for unrestricted
access for filming, I completed the filming and presented my friend with
a DVD containing a short 90 second film to music.

During last winter I spent many hours incorporating the 90 second footage
into a 9 minutes film complete with my voiceover, music and 7 minutes of
my own filming related to this subject. I was very pleased with my film,
which I wanted to show at the next club competition evening.

Last March, I showed my friend this film, he was very impressed and asked
to show it to his son who was also impressed and took it to show his company.
However the company retained the Mini DV cassette which contained most of
the original footage and the only copy of the original film. This is because
the computer hard drive crash in April and is beyond repair or retrieval.


I have phoned and written to the company requesting return of my cassette
many times but the company will not communicate. I have also been told that
they use my 9 minutes version to show factory visitors.

What is my legal position? Can anyone advise me on what I should do next?

Ron Jones

"Ron Jones" <forums@theiac.org.uk> wrote:

Help!

I’m an amateur club film maker who was asked by a friend to film his son
at work. After gaining written permission from his company for unrestricted
access for filming, I completed the filming and presented my friend with
a DVD containing a short 90 second film to music.

During last winter I spent many hours incorporating the 90 second footage
into a 9 minutes film complete with my voiceover, music and 7 minutes of
my own filming related to this subject. I was very pleased with my film,
which I wanted to show at the next club competition evening.

Last March, I showed my friend this film, he was very impressed and asked
to show it to his son who was also impressed and took it to show his company.
However the company retained the Mini DV cassette which contained most of
the original footage and the only copy of the original film. This is because
the computer hard drive crash in April and is beyond repair or retrieval.


I have phoned and written to the company requesting return of my cassette
many times but the company will not communicate. I have also been told that
they use my 9 minutes version to show factory visitors.

Ron, I am sure that the tape (with its contents) is your property although
I am no lawyer. But WHY did you part with it without having your own copy?
With DV copies are as good as original and you slipped up badly there.

Michael Slowe.

What is my legal position? Can anyone advise me on what I should do next?

Ron Jones

"Ron Jones" <forums@theiac.org.uk> wrote:

Help!

I’m an amateur club film maker who was asked by a friend to film his son
at work. After gaining written permission from his company for unrestricted
access for filming, I completed the filming and presented my friend with
a DVD containing a short 90 second film to music.

During last winter I spent many hours incorporating the 90 second footage
into a 9 minutes film complete with my voiceover, music and 7 minutes of
my own filming related to this subject. I was very pleased with my film,
which I wanted to show at the next club competition evening.

Last March, I showed my friend this film, he was very impressed and asked
to show it to his son who was also impressed and took it to show his company.
However the company retained the Mini DV cassette which contained most of
the original footage and the only copy of the original film. This is because
the computer hard drive crash in April and is beyond repair or retrieval.


I have phoned and written to the company requesting return of my cassette
many times but the company will not communicate. I have also been told that
they use my 9 minutes version to show factory visitors.

What is my legal position? Can anyone advise me on what I should do next?

Ron Jones

I am not a lawyer, however, the copyright in the film is yours unless you
have reassigned the rights. Here is what I would do:

1. Talk with your friend and his son and ask them to try and recover the
miniDV master and any copies that have been made from it, explaining that
this represents a lot of work by you and you still own the copyright. Check
that the written permission from the company did not include a transfer of
the rights.
2. If this does not work then write to the company with a request for the
return of the master and any copies made, sending this by registered mail
with an explanation of your investment in the production and a price you
ask for to let them make copies but you still retain the rights and want
your master back.
3. If this is a large company with a legal department stop and think about
your next move, which is to have a lawyer write to them on your behalf requesting
the return of the master and any copies made. If it is a large company it
may be cheaper to write this off to a bad experience because their legal
department has deeper pockets than you and will happily enter into an expensive
correspondence with your lawyer, but a letter to the Chairman/MD by name
may work.

Ned Cordery