If someone took the concept of Thomas the Tank, changed the trains, sets and names, HIT Entertainment wouldn't be able to sue as they don't own the right to a monopoly on kids shows featuring little steam trains. They just own the rights to the stories, sets, characters and music.
I don't doubt that the bloke wrote to Chatsworth and they said "that's a good idea, let's rip it off", but ripping off is allowed to a certain extent, as long as you tweak the idea, no matter how immoral it may seem. (Noel's House Party/Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway, Popstars/Pop Idol etc)
You claim that the storylines and characters have been copied. If you have legal proof that they were created by the bloke, sue. If you have no proof, that's tough luck for sending the idea to a TV company without suitable protection.
ALL themes & storyline manuscripts & charaters were sent to over 40 TV compaines - ALL are copyrighted - but -
it costs the average bloke way too much to take legal action against big media - thats why it keeps happening
thats my whole point
COPYRIGHT IS USELESS WITHOUT ENOUGH MONEY TO FIGHT THE LIKES OF THE BBC etc - there is no legal aid - there is no "no win no fee"
from this definition of Copyright - there is ample evidence on the website
" Copyright law is quite explicit that the making of what are called "derivative works" - works based or derived from another copyrighted work - is the exclusive province of the owner of the original work. This is true even though the making of these new works is a highly creative process. If you write a story using settings or characters from somebody else's work, you need that author's permission. "
1/ characters - the main 3 original characters (on website) are 2d representations of the 3d finished characters (Busy Buses)
2/ storylines - several storylines have been copied almost exactly (one example is on the website)
3/ idea & theme - the ENTIRE theme of the "bus series" is copied
SP
Sput
ANTI_CORRUPTION_TEAM_7 posted:
from this definition of Copyright - there is ample evidence on the website
" Copyright law is quite explicit that the making of what are called "derivative works" - works based or derived from another copyrighted work - is the exclusive province of the owner of the original work. This is true even though the making of these new works is a highly creative process. If you write a story using settings or characters from somebody else's work, you need that author's permission. "
1/ characters - the main 3 original characters (on website) are 2d representations of the 3d finished characters (Busy Buses) as are all the other characters (not on website - to be put on website shortly)
2/ storylines - several storylines have been copied almost exactly (not on website - though evidence held)
3/ idea & theme - the ENTIRE theme of the "bus series" is copied (evidence held)
i will be putting ALL the evidence on the website in due course
In other news, Manchester is ruled by a small parsnip (evidence held).
1/ characters - the main 3 original characters are 2d representations of the 3d finished characters (on website) as are all the other characters (not on website - to be put on website shortly)
2/ storylines - several storylines have been copoed almost exactly (not on website - though evidence held)
3/ theme - the whole theme of the "bus series" is copied (evidence held)
i will be putting ALL the evidence on the website in due course
If you have the proof, then sue Chatsworth. If you don't have proof, tough luck. However, by what I've seen on the website, the similarity is too vague.
Whataday
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<can't believe I'm getting involved in this>
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ok - fair comment - it is a "Kids Bus Series" - but as i said above - one day this could happen to any of you or your friends & you will be able to do *nothing* about it - someone you know may write the script for a 200 million dollar film (which is then "copied") - & in effect he would be powerless to get one penny from it - unless he had BIG money in the first place to take his case to court & get back what is rightfully his
it's the big media continually getting away with it that needs stopping - the average joe has no chance
ok - fair comment - it is a "Kids Bus Series" - but as i said above - one day this could happen to any of you or your friends & you will be able to do *nothing* about it - someone you know may write the script for a 200 million dollar film (which is then "copied") - & in effect he would be powerless to get one penny from it
I'm currently developing several ideas for several different companies, and each of my designs/scripts have their copyright registered. If another company, no matter how large, stole the idea, they wouldn't have a case. That is unless the script was changed drastically enough, in which case it would be 'inspired' from my work rather than stolen.
ok - *in therory* yes i agree - but wait till it happens *in practice* - unless you have BIG money at the time you wont get a penny - wait & see - try & see just how much it will actually cost you to get your work back should the worst happen - i hope it does not
thats why i feel it's a good idea to draw attention to this problem
Stevel -
the BBC was just an example of "big media"
another question ....
if you had truly created something & some joes started to stir things on the internet or where ever & it got to the point where your sales were in jeopardy would you not take action against said joes ? - i would & i would not fear any press reports if it were truly my work
the reason no action has been taken against us is because the last thing they want is for the press to report on it & the press are in a no win situation too - they risk libel reporting until proceedings are actually in place - this applies to the national press - the story has been reported on by one local press reporter - i have since found out the reason why local press reporters will cover stories like this is as they are ambitious & "to hell with the consequences" - i have 4 national press contacts & they have ALL told me EXACTLY the same thing - they cannot afford to risk it until proceedings are In place & one of them referred me to some local press contacts - thus reinforcing the above
the way they are playing it is - they are literally letting us get away with murder - they could have taken so many civil actions against us to list on here
so why have'nt they ?
in complete contrast another very large media company from the uk threatened us immediatly with civil action when they found out ONLY their name was wrongly involved - we corrected the situation & they are happy - they had no monetary interest in it whatsoever
also - we have recieved info from people working in the media who have told us that we are correct & the series was indeed stolen
obviously they cannot be named as their jobs are at stake & that was a condition of the info being released to us
