The Faulkner's estate has brought a lawsuit against Sony Pictures Classic and unnamed group of movie exhibitors with regard to Woody Allen’s movie “Midnight in Paris”. The lawsuit is about copyright infringement of William Faulkner’s book “Requiem for a nun” (1950) with inaccurate quote, consisting of 9 words. According to the defenders of the Faulkner's estate, the film used a paraphrased quote of the said literary work without permission.The original phrase is “The past is never dead. It’s not even past” and the movie paraphrase: “The past is not dead. It’s not even past”.
Sony's defense is based on the idea that the phrase was used in the "fair use" basis as provided for in the US Copyright Law. Statutory factors to determining whether the use of literary work falls under the so-called "Fair use" are:
- the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
- the nature of the copyrighted work;
- the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole;
- the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
The court ruled that, periphrasis in no way violates copyrights and meets the requirements of fair use. Furthermore, the movie citation could have positive effect upon the distribution and Faulkner’s book market.
The Faulkner’s Estate thinks to reconvene and go ahead with next moves.
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