Re: Indy Can't Look like Ford??? Well......

Posted by Michaelson from em12-686.utsi.edu on January 05, 1999 at 08:13:27:

In Reply to: Indy Can't Look like Ford??? posted by BMan on December 31, 1998 at 13:35:46:

: I've just been re-reading the December PC Gamer cover story on Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine.

: They mention that the voice of Indy in the game will not be supplied by Harrison Ford- nothing new there. But they say that since the Indy character and Harrison Ford's likeness exist as separate copyrights, the game developers must make the character look and sound like Indy, but not Harrison Ford.

: I admit I know next to nothing about copyright law, but if this is the case, why does all of the cover art for the novels have good likenesses of Harrison Ford? And in The Fate of Atlantis, when you look at a magazine, you see a good likeness of Harrison Ford as Indy, along with Sophia. Similarly, a lot of Star Wars products have a likeness of Ford as Han Solo.

: I can see them not being able to afford Ford, but it just seems a little bizarre that they would have to intentionally make the computer character not look like what we've come to expect Indy to look like.

: Just a thought.

: BMan

Well, I'm aware of the problem that copyrighting or licensing images is a separate negotiable item than the licensing or copyrighting of a character. Since James Bond constantly pops up here, we'll use him as an example....you've had a multitude of actors playing the character, and each and every actor "owns" his image, as you and I do ourselves, unless a contract agreement has been signed allowing another party to use our image for monetary gain. Newspaper and videographers have to carry appearance releases anywhere we go to have individuals give written permission to use their image when the image shot is used for publication or broadcast. Therefore, it's possible that the game company got the LucasFilm groups contractual blessing to use Indiana Jones, but not Harrison Ford's blessing to use his image as the character. Apparently they didn't have that problem with the novels or comic books portrayls. Good observation. Unless you dig into the mire of copyright laws (and in my business, I've HAD to!) this isn't real apparent, and there is still a huge amount of gray area to play with until the laws are tightened up to include the rapidly growing area of games, video, interactive broadcast and internet. The laws still apply in early 1970 terms. Regards. Michaelson

Follow Ups:

Copyright laws... ~The Raider~ 19:15:27 1/08/99 (2)
- Re: Copyright laws...and actually Indy related... Michaelson 13:14:05 1/09/99 (1)
  - A big money grab.... ~The Raider~ 19:50:42 1/09/99 (0)
Thanks BMan 17:31:37 1/05/99 (0)

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: : I've just been re-reading the December PC Gamer cover story on Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine.

: : They mention that the voice of Indy in the game will not be supplied by Harrison Ford- nothing new there.  But they say that since the Indy character and Harrison Ford's likeness exist as separate copyrights, the game developers must make the character look and sound like Indy, but not Harrison Ford.

: : I admit I know next to nothing about copyright law, but if this is the case, why does all of the cover art for the novels have good likenesses of Harrison Ford?  And in The Fate of Atlantis, when you look at a magazine, you see a good likeness of Harrison Ford as Indy, along with Sophia.  Similarly, a lot of Star Wars products have a likeness of Ford as Han Solo.

: : I can see them not being able to afford Ford, but it just seems a little bizarre that they would have to intentionally make the computer character not look like what we've come to expect Indy to look like.

: : Just a thought.

: : BMan

: Well, I'm aware of the problem that copyrighting or licensing images is a separate negotiable item than the licensing or copyrighting of a character. Since James Bond constantly pops up here, we'll use him as an example....you've had a multitude of actors playing the character, and each and every actor "owns" his image, as you and I do ourselves, unless a contract agreement has been signed allowing another party to use our image for monetary gain. Newspaper and videographers have to carry appearance releases anywhere we go to have individuals give written permission to use their image when the image shot is used for publication or broadcast. Therefore, it's possible that the game company got the LucasFilm groups contractual blessing to use Indiana Jones, but not Harrison Ford's blessing to use his image as the character. Apparently they didn't have that problem with the novels or comic books portrayls. Good observation. Unless you dig into the mire of copyright laws (and in my business, I've HAD to!) this isn't real apparent, and there is still a huge amount of gray area to play with until the laws are tightened up to include the rapidly growing area of games, video, interactive broadcast and internet. The laws still apply in early 1970 terms. Regards. Michaelson

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