Legal Question in Entertainment Law in Oregon

Re: Adaptions or Based-Upon material from published work

You need to focus on the distinction between the event itself and the film depiction, as the owners of the copyright in the film/screenplay do not have preclusive rights to all depictions of the event in question. Such copyright is termed "thin" because it extends only to the selection of events and not to the story as a whole.

You have every right to create a new work that depicts the actual event. You will have significant issues with the film's owners, however, if you use similar editorial selection of particular facets of the event.

By way of hypothetical example, if the movie "Twelve O'Clock High" were strictly based upon historical events, you could create a non-infringing work that focused on 1Lt. Bishop's perspective instead of Maj. Stovall, which would probably have much more emphasis on aerial combat and less of the ground politics, but still relate the ultimate success of Brig. Gen. Savage in turning the 918th Group into an effective fighting force.

Best wishes,

LDWG