Who is the author of a copyright in a movie shoot - the movie producer or the person actually holding the camera?
The producer, or more accurately, the person on the movie shoot that has a “high degree of control over the film operation.”
This was the issue in Lindsay v. The Wrecked and Abandoned Vessel R.M.S. Titanic. [*1]
What happened in the Lindsay case?
Lindsay was under contract with the British television company to film and direct the British documentary, “Explorers of the Titanic.” The documentary chronicled a salvage expedition to the Titanic.
Lindsay was at sea for a month filming the documentary. During this time and afterward, he thought of a new film project using high illumination lighting equipment.
As part of pre-production for this new project, Lindsay created storyboards detailing camera angles and shootings sequences. He put together a team to create huge underwater light towers to film the documentary. He also worked with the submarine crew every day to transport equipment and photographers to the underwater wreck site.
For the next 3-4 weeks, Lindsay directed, produced, and acted as cinematographer.
The defendants, R.M.S. Titanic, were the photographers that actually shot the footage underwater. They licensed the footage to the Discovery Channel without Lindsay’s permission. Lindsay sued.
What was R.M.S. Titanic’s argument?
They argued that Lindsay had no right to the footage because he did not dive to the ship and actually photograph the wreckage himself.
What did the Court say?
R.M.S. Titanic’s argument “does not hold water.” A creative work may be protected by copyright if they are “representative of original intellectual conceptions of the author.” [*2]
The project was Lindsay‘s vision and product of his planning. The storyboards and direction that he provided to the photographers suggest that the final film will be the result of Lindsay’s “original intellectual conceptions.”
What does this mean?
When a film maker shows that he “exercised such a high degree of control over a film operation - including the type and amount of lighting used, the specific camera angles to be employed, and other detail-intensive elements of a film - such that that the final product duplicates his conceptions and visions of what the film should look like,” the film maker is considered to be the “author” under copyright law.
[*1] Lindsay v. The Wrecked and Abandoned Vessel R.M.S. Titanic, 52 U.S.P.Q.2d 1609 (S.D.N.Y. 1999)
[*2] Burrow-Giles Lithographic Co. v. Sarony, 111 U.S. 53, 58 (1884)
