3 Count: Frozen Lawsuit

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1: Disney’s ‘Frozen’ Trailer Targeted in Copyright Lawsuit

First off today, Eriq Gardner at The Hollywood Reporter Esquire reports that filmmaker and animator Kelly Wilson has filed a lawsuit against The Walt Disney Company over the movie Frozen, or rather, the teaser trailer for the movie that was released in June of 2013.

According to Wilson, the trailer is an infringement of an earlier work she created, entitled The Snowman. Both shorts featured a snowman character battling a animals that were trying to steal his nose while on a frozen lake. In Frozen‘s case, it was a reindeer, in the case of The Snowman, it was a gang of rabbits.

Disney has said that the lawsuit is without merit and has promised to defend it vigorously. It should be noticed that the scene from the teaser trailer was not in the film itself, leading many to claim that the trailer was misleading.

2: ‘Conjuring’ Sequels May Be Put on Hold by Suit

Next up today, Dave McNary at Variety reports that Warner Brothers and New Line Cinema have been hit with a lawsuit that is seeking to halt the production of sequels to the horror film “The Conjuring”.

The suit was filed by Evergreen Media Group and Tony Derosa-Grund. They allege that the films are an infringement of the real-life experiences of paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren. The plaintiffs claim that they licensed less than 1% of the case files from the Warren’s history for the first movie and that New Line is wanting to go ahead with the sequels without cutting them in on the profits.

However, this isn’t the first litigation between the two sides. New Line recently took the Evergreen Media Group to court over a “Conjuring” TV series that they alleged violated rights they held in the name. That case has gone to arbitration. New Line has vowed to defend this latest lawsuit vigorously.

3: Local News Finds Creative Way Around March Madness Copyright Rules

Finally today, Laura Vitto at Mashable reports that WCJBTV20 in Gainesville has found a creative way to get around licensing restrictions that bar them from showing highlights of the NCAA basketball tournament games.

Since the station is an ABC affiliate and only CBS affiliates can show video highlights for the first 24 hours after a game, the station opted, instead, to reenact the game using members of their own staff in an empty conference room.

The reenactment even included a recreation of Florida Gators player Patric Young shedding tears of joy at the end of the game. Though clearly tongue-in-cheek, the reenactment has gone viral and has become wildly popular on YouTube and other video sharing sites.

Suggestions

That’s it for the three count today. We will be back tomorrow with three more copyright links. If you have a link that you want to suggest a link for the column or have any proposals to make it better. Feel free to leave a comment or send me an email. I hope to hear from you.

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