Movie script on Ebay

[Dax101]

I just noticed someone is selling the 2 versions of the movie script on eBay.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/324629554666?hash=item4b956de5ea:g:2SkAAOSwy71gosNy

In a sense, i don’t think anyone wants to spoil it for themselves until Doug decides what he wants to do with it. but its crazy to think its out there to read.

Topic

[RunawayTrain]

I think Doug could still get it taken down if it was fake. It’s obviously not good if someone is trying to scam fans of his by selling something they’re pretending was written by him.

This is what I thought too. Plus I don’t think he’d want his name on something fake with the possibility of people believing it to be genuine.

The movie scraps would make a great follow-up to the series VIII book. Type up Doug’s anecdotes about the whole development hell, then print the script/s in full, illustrated with concept art, read-through photos and whatever else.

Or have Chris Barrie read the script over some drawings like the other lost stories.

Oh yes, I like these ideas.

[si]

Or, y’know, just Big Finish the Hell out of it.

[Flap Jack]

You can report an item that infringes upon copyright, which this clearly would. Someone has Doug’s intellectual property in their possession that, even if obtained legitimately at the time, they don’t have the permission to resell.

Is that true, though? I know that IP/copyright law would prevent the seller from making, well, copies, and selling those – but just selling the single, original script that legally belongs to you is allowed, surely?

The instinct that copyright would prevent the sale of this movie script (were it real and not stolen and also the seller didn’t originally sign some sort of binding agreement where they committed to never sell the script) is because its contents aren’t public knowledge, but that shouldn’t affect how copyright works. If Doug had the power to demand this hypothetical legitimate script posting be taken down, then that would mean he could also demand you not resell your old Red Dwarf DVDs or your copy of Last Human. But he couldn’t.

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

Presumably Doug (or anyone in this situation) could argue that it doesn’t belong to you, that it given to you in a work context and you were not allowed to distribute it outside of that. Especially if there’s any NDA signed etc. Plus, from the WorthPoint link that shows a front cover of a script, it clearly states

“this material is the property of the red dwarf films company and intended and restricted solely for the authorised personnel. distribution and disclosure of this material to unauthorised persons is prohibited. the sale, copying or reproduction of this material in any form is also prohibited”

So anyone given this scripts legitimately could well be in the shit if they were found to be selling them.

It would be akin to say, making copies of a film you downloaded to give to other people. Sure you “own” the film, but only under certain conditions of use.

<

then that would mean he could also demand you not resell your old Red Dwarf DVDs or your copy of Last Human

The law does technically mean you can’t do this. No one goes after it because it’d be too much fucking work, (and because the market developed at a time it wasn’t possible to police – but if a copyright holder wanted to, they could file claims against the resale of goods on eBay I’m sure) and I’m sure second hand markets are good for the overall product and franchise in the long run etc.

[RunawayTrain]

Is that true, though? I know that IP/copyright law would prevent the seller from making, well, copies, and selling those – but just selling the single, original script that legally belongs to you is allowed, surely?

My first thought would be that surely it breaks some NDA (so not copyright, true). Secondly, they don’t have the right to make any money from his work that is not available to the public.

With second-hand physical works (DVDs, books, merchandise) the original owner paid for it from a licensed seller, so everyone due money from that sale would have got it. It is usual that such things may very well be sold on later, but the original dues have been paid. An unmade script not publicly available is an entirely different matter.

[Dax101]

Well contracts run out after a period. i assume an NDA would run out too. it has been 20 years. and Doug isn’t exactly a big studio with that type of power.

In terms of the material in that said script. i wouldn’t put it past being post series 8 Doug Naylor material.

[Flap Jack]

The law does technically mean you can’t do this. No one goes after it because it’d be too much fucking work, (and because the market developed at a time it wasn’t possible to police – but if a copyright holder wanted to, they could file claims against the resale of goods on eBay I’m sure) and I’m sure second hand markets are good for the overall product and franchise in the long run etc.

No, the opposite. The law actively permits you to resell the products you buy. It’s the right of first sale. (Obviously in the case of the hypothetical script it would have been more of a gift than a sale, and they likely would have signed extra agreements about it as you say, but still.)

Digital only goods have been an exception to the rule that has emerged in recent decades, due to companies sneakily making it so you’re not truly buying the thing in the first place, just renting or licensing it on generous terms. And also because sending someone a digital good is unavoidably making a copy, so a fair resale system would be very difficult to enforce. Even then, it hasn’t stopped the EU from trying to do just that with Steam.

[Warbodog]

Not to drag this out or anything, but the eBay listing never specified that it was related to the Red Dwarf film that Doug Naylor was working on, just “the never-made Red Dwarf feature film” generally.

[Dave]

It’s true, technically there’s not just one never-made Red Dwarf movie but an infinite number of them.

It’s only once the movie is made that it has to abandon that quantum superposition and commit to one specific form.

It’s Schrödinger’s Dwarf.

[Flap Jack]

“Come on, I just said I was selling ‘an early draft of the next A Song of Ice and Fire book’, I never said anything about George R.R. Martin! Checkmate, your honour.”

[Author]

Replies