Legal Question in Intellectual Property in New York

Re: Using Movie Transcript for Publishing/Education

Subtitles are definitely protected by copyright apart from the film's audio and video and all other elements of a motion picture. The copyright in the subtitles is likely held by the production company which made the film or distributed/

released the dvd.

It is not possible to answer your question without examining the relevant facts: most importantly, the extent of copying subtitles (amount taken from each film), their use in your work, the nature of your work (commercial or academic) and the impact of your use of the subtitles on the commercial exploitation of the films. As you may have guessed, theoretically the answer will tell you whether you can rely on the doctrine of fair use to avoid liability for copyright infringement. In practice, though, it is almost always wise to seek a license from the copyright holder, especially in the cases where the unauthorized use is not primarily for academic or not-for-profit purposes.

Since your projects do not appear to compete with the films or to reduce their commercial value, chances are the copyright owner would not ask for too much by way of royalties. In any event, you should be able to negotiate a decent deal without any upfront payment and simply pay a small royalty on the sales of your product. Once you obtain the license, then you can safely promote your own products.

Incidentally, if you plan to publish any of your studybooks through third party publishers, you will have to assure them that all material in your books is either original to you or duly licensed so seeking a license now becomes even more important.

Note that this reply is in the nature of general information, is not legal advice and should not be relied upon as such. Feel free to contact me if you require a legal consultation or representation.