Apparent legal trouble, how do I find a loophole?
Question by Jessie’s Girl: Apparent legal trouble, how do I find a loophole?
I found a free script, on a website where people put up their scripts for free use. I then made a short video out of it, for my portfolio to be accepted into school. No profit will be gained from it. I contacted the writer to inform him and he said he sold the script to someone in the UK and if I post it online I could get in major legal trouble, since they now have the rights to it. I can’t even trust this guy is telling the truth, and even so, that’s the UK. I’m in the US.
I found the script when it was posted free (and it’s still there, free to grab) No money will be made, at all. It’ll go on YouTube and the school will see it. I won’t get in legal trouble for this, will I?
The disclaimer on the website that I got the script from says that if they do not copyright the script, “we cannot be held responsible if your script is taken by someone and changed a bit and produced into a multimillion dollar movie. ” The script, as found on the freewebsite, was never copyrighted. It wasn’t until I contacted the author that he claims he sold the rights of it. I have no legal proof of this, and he will not give me legal proof. From my standing point, I have used a script that was free for taking.
The original writer has kept the script on the website, despite having given up the rights. ANYONE could be using this script, and this UK person with the rights could not know about it. The difference is I contacted the guy, and he informed me on the situtation.
Best answer:
Answer by Mutt
It depends on the license. Just because it’s free on that website doesn’t mean it is free to redistribute it.
Go back to the website you originally found it and see what the license states (assuming that site is legally distributing it).
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