v2 Chapter 800： Sudden copyright litigation

According to Duke’s plan, "The Avengers" will start shooting in September or October. The shooting time is tentatively scheduled for two and a half months. After the $60 million allocated by Marvel Pictures in advance, the preparations for the entire crew have been completed. Unfolded methodically.

The layout of the film is very grand, but the shooting is not the case. Nearly 90% of the film's scenes will be shot in a studio produced by Warner, which means that Duke will use a large area of ​​green screen shooting.

Except for a few scenes that need to be on location, Duke will basically complete the filming of this film in Los Angeles.

However, he will divide the play into two parts in the future. Anna Prinz will lead a team to go to locations including Germany, New York, Cleveland and other locations to shoot enough material for the post-composite shots.

Today, the Avengers has been established for half a century, and the Marvel Comics company that has grown with it also has more than 70 years of history.

This half-century has given comic screenwriters enough time to repair and perfect the complex worldview of the Marvel universe. It has also given generations of creators the opportunity to dig deeper into the characters. The independent background and story of each comic can no longer To meet demand, in this era when everything needs to be cross-border, the emergence of "Avengers" is inevitable.

Among them are grassroots heroes who were born civilians, artificial intelligence crystallized by technology, the most threatening alien life, and the gods who are born with supernatural powers.

Magic, technology, and superpowers have reached a perfect balance in friction and cooperation; the harmonious coexistence of humans, gods, and aliens is becoming more and more reasonable. The Hollywood-style production process and current special effects technology are also in line with the filming of this series. need.

After the warm-up of the previous movies, this series has formed a topic and gathered fans. The sensory stimulation brought by the superhero gathering will inevitably increase exponentially.

In fact, in Duke's eyes, this film can realize the dreams of many audiences of different ages. Seeing his beloved heroes squeezed in one shot to form a group to fight monsters.

But it is not easy for these superheroes to organize and fight monsters smoothly. Not to mention the difficulties Duke faced in the preparations, some external interference will always jump out.

In Hollywood, after any film is hot, there will always be people who want to get a share of the pie. For example, James Cameron’s "Avatar" has been criticized for plagiarism as many times as the film. The number of times the box office has been mentioned.

Some people are driven by profit. Some people are driven by competitors. This is a complex, chaotic and highly competitive circle. It will not be surprising that any method used in the business circle appears.

Duke ran into some trouble while preparing for "The Avengers."

In mid-May, the descendants of the famous American cartoonist Jack Kobe and their lawyers held a press conference and declared that they would file a lawsuit in the Los Angeles court to sue Marvel Comics and Marvel Pictures and demand the end of their creations by Jack Kobe. The copyright of the comic characters, the preparation and shooting of "Avengers" are suspended, and the profits brought by the previous related movies are shared.

The news was quickly reported by the media. It became the focus of public opinion for a while, and many media even published news similar to "The Avengers" will be postponed indefinitely.

Jack Kobe is one of the veterans of Marvel and an important assistant to Stan Lee. He has participated in the "Fantastic Four", "Hulk", "Captain America", "Iron Man", "Thor" and other superheroes. The creation of the character is one of the creators of the Avengers.

However, he is different from Stan Lee, who died as early as 1994.

There is no doubt that Stan Lee is widely regarded as the father of Marvel's superheroes. According to his agreement with Marvel, he also enjoys a 5% share of all profits brought by all the superheroes involved in the creation.

But in fact. The long-dead Jack Kobe's influence on Marvel is far greater than Stan Lee.

The descendants of Jack Kobe took the Marvel company to court and demanded the recovery of the copyright of a series of comic works created by Jack Kobe between 1958 and 1963. This will undoubtedly cause a lot of trouble for the entire Marvel plan. .

Of course, Duke will not stop preparing and shooting. After the other party called a press conference, he also called a meeting for a while.

It doesn't matter if Jack Kobe's descendants have been challenged by someone. He is unlikely to win this lawsuit because he faces more than a Marvel comic.

If Jack Kobe’s descendants put forward a total of forty-five copyright termination lawsuits, including the Fantastic Four, X-Men, Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Spider-Man and many other characters, the copyright and proceeds will be carried out. Redistribute.

This involves not only Marvel and Warner Bros., but also companies such as Sony Columbia, Twentieth Century Fox and Paramount.

No surprises, Duke suggested slightly. These companies stood together and formed a large group of lawyers, not only to respond to the suit, but also to file a countersuit against Jack Kobe's descendants.

Marvel filed an allegation, claiming that these works by Jack Kobe were created for the company, so all copyrights belong to Marvel.

According to the copyright law of the United States, if Marvel assigns a screenwriter or painter a task to create a comic story that adds a new character, or draw a comic based on the description of the character, and pay it for the screenwriter or artist completing the task Remuneration, the publishing company owns the copyright, not the screenwriter or artist.

Marvel Pictures vowed to declare in the press release, "All the comics that Jack Kobe contributed to Marvel belong to this category."

This is bound to evolve into an extremely long lawsuit. In the face of such a powerful alliance of interests, everyone knows that the probability of Jack Kobe's descendants winning is almost zero.

"This is just to add trouble to us."

In the studio of Warner Studios, Tina Fei said to Scarlett Johansson who had just walked in, “It increases our pressure. After all, once the lawsuit is lost, the entire project must be stopped. This psychological hint will Affect the work of actors and others."

Scarlett turned to look at Duke, "Honey, will you be affected?".

Duke, who was temporarily resting, put down the coffee cup in his hand and shook his head, "If it is affected by this kind of thing, I won't go to the present."

How much fierce competition has he faced along the way, and how many overt or covert methods have those competitors used?

Where can Hollywood easily watch the unimpeded rise of one power.

Not just himself, Duke is also assured of his entire team. They have experienced countless trials and tribulations like him, not the kind of idiot who came to Hollywood and thought it was a holy land.

"Scarlett, when you rehearsed with other actors..."

Compared to the members of his team, Duke is still a little worried about the actors. "You can also talk to them about this. The crew will never stop anyway."

Those actors are neither newcomers nor idiots. As long as you give a little hint, you can naturally see that Jack Kobe’s descendants have no chance of winning.

Not to mention that Marvel really authorized Jack Kobe to create the work. Even if it wasn't, the other party faced such a powerful combination of interests and wanted to win the lawsuit.

The laws of this country are indeed sound, but only fools will think that the laws of the United States are fair and just.

"Hmm..." Scarlett nodded, "I know what to do."

Tina Fei has been looking through the information, and then suddenly said, "Duke, there is one thing you should pay attention to. David Ellison and Universal Pictures’ "Fast and Furious 5" have been arranged in our time. It will be released on weekends."

"What does he want to do?" Scarlett stood up, walked to Tina Fey's side, and looked at the document together, "Does he naively think that "Fast and Furious 5" can win "The Avengers" ?"

"Can't be careless." Duke has never been an arrogant person. "The "Fast and Furious" series has accumulated a large number of fans. As long as the film and the announcement are not problematic, it is definitely a rival."

"Wow……"

As if seeing something very strange, Scarlett yelled, and then said, "There is an acquaintance of yours in this crew."

Before Duke could say anything, she continued, "They brought back Mel Gibson from Australia to be the villain of this film."

"He came back." Duke flicked his coffee cup. "Tina, let people stare at Mel Gibson and the crew."

Tina Fei nodded.

Scarlett Johansson thought of more things, "Will the lawsuit we face is related to David Ellison and his crew?"

Duke just gave an ambiguous answer, "It's possible."

As he said in the past, it doesn't really matter who does it. The important thing is who does it best? As long as you can see the beneficiary, you will also see where your enemy is.

Seeing Tina Fei started to make a call, Scarlett left there and came to Duke, holding on to the back of his chair, and said, "Should we do something? Can't we just be passively beaten?"

"Scarlett, you care about too many things." Duke knocked on her hand and reminded, "The best thing you should do now is how to grasp your role."

"Okay, okay, I see." Scarlett walked toward the seat opposite Duke, muttering as she walked, "Black Widow always obeys orders and is in a gray area. Although she is fighting for justice, But she has a dark background. But she still fights for justice firmly, because on the one hand, she has to do it, and on the other hand, she has a sense of responsibility in her heart. She always speaks with her fist. This is how she tells the truth. Wrong way." (To be continued.)

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Chapter 800 Sudden Copyright Litigation: