Is Moviegoods breaking the law by selling copies of movie posters the anwser is yes. Several exclusive rights typically attach to the holder of a copyright:
a.. to produce copies or reproductions of the work and to sell those copies (including, typically, electronic copies) b.. to import or export the work c.. to create derivative works<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derivative_work> (works that adapt the original work) d.. to perform or display the work publicly e.. to sell or assign these rights to others f.. to transmit or display by means of digital audio transmission (XM Satellite Radio, Sirius) The phrase "exclusive right" means that only the copyright holder is free to exercise the attendant rights, and others are prohibited using the work without the consent of the copyright holder. Copyright is often called a "negative right", as it serves to prohibit people (e.g. readers, viewers, or listeners, and primarily publishers and would be publishers) from doing something, rather than permitting people (e.g. authors) to do something. In this way it is similar to the unregistered design right in English law<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_law> and European law<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_law>. The rights of the copyright holder also permit him/her to not use or exploit their copyright for its duration. This means an author can choose to exploit their copyright for some of the duration and then not for the rest, vice versa, or entirely one or the other Originally, film posters were produced for the exclusive use of the theatres exhibiting the film the poster was created for, and the posters were required to be returned to the distributor after the film left the theatre. In the United States<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States>, posters were usually returned to a nation-wide operation called the National Screen Service<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Screen_Service> (NSS) which printed and distributed most of the film posters for the studios between 1940 and 1984. As an economy measure, the NSS regularly recycled posters that were returned, sending them back out to be used again at another theatre. During this time, a film could stay in circulation for several years, and so many old film posters were badly worn before being retired into storage at an NSS warehouse (most often, they were thrown away when they were no longer needed or had become too worn to be used again). Those posters which were not returned were often thrown away by the theatre owner, but some film posters found their way into the hands of collectors. After the National Screen Service ceased most of its film-poster printing and distribution operations in 1985, some of the posters which they had stored in warehouses around the United States ended up in the hands of private collectors and film-poster dealers. Today there is a thriving collectibles market in film posters. Some have be become very valuable among collectors, with a few rare examples being auctioned for US$500,000 or more. The record price for a poster was set on November 15<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/November_15>, 2005<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005> when US$690,000 was paid for a poster of Fritz Lang<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Lang>'s 1927 film Metropolis<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolis_%28film%29> from the Reel Poster Gallery in London.[1]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Movie_poster#_note-0> As a result of market demand, some of the more popular older film posters have been reproduced either under license or illegally. Often there is no indication on these reproductions that they are reproductions, which has lead to some problems in the collectibles marketplace. Beginning in the 1980s, the film studios<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_studio> began taking over direct production and distribution of their posters from the National Screen Service and the process of making and distributing film posters became decentralised. Today, film posters are generally produced in much larger quantities than necessary to promote a film at the theatres, because they are also sold directly to the public by retailers who purchase them at wholesale prices from the studio distributors. Modern film posters are also often sold from websites set up by the studio to promote a given film. Because of this, modern posters are not considered rare, and are usually readily available for purchase by collectors. ----- Original Message ----- From: allen day<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, June 07, 2007 7:20 PM Subject: Re: [MOPO] MovieGoods? Pshaw ... C'mon ... your absolutism is showing ... and check your zipper for any stray politicking. Surely you can do better ... take 2 seconds next time ad --- Bob Brooks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>> wrote: > I'm sorry, only have a second to reply here, but > wow.... > > Do all you Americans really believe that Canada is > this lawless place, like the Wild West - but, with > bad pharmaceuticals????? You people REALLY have to > start questioning your leaders when they lie to > you... > > Cheers, > > Bob > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Susan Heim > To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> > Sent: Thursday, June 07, 2007 10:33 AM > Subject: Re: [MOPO] MovieGoods? > > > Hey Tom, > I'm sure it is because they are based in Canada. > Most of the reproduction houses are in Europe, > mainly France and Germany. It may be that the laws > are hard to enforce on this issue out of the states. > Many of my studio contacts say it's just too > overwhelming. To be honest, while someone is making > money off of their image, it is still their image > advertising their movie that is being put out there. > So, in a way it's millions of dollars in free > publicity. Duplicating a video, DVD or CD to resell > it is a different matter since those are primarily > being produced for sale to the public to make a > profit. Movie posters are not made for the public > for sale or otherwise so the only money the studio > is losing in that venture are the people that help > themselves to originals at the studio, the printer > or other vendors that utilize movie posters. In the > end even those posters make it to a wall somewhere, > again advertising that movie. > Moviegoods makes their own line of > reproductions and buys repros from other sources. I > supply Moviegoods the frames they sell on their > website and often they ship me the posters to > install in the frames. They have a nice line of > reproductions to movies all the way back to the > silents and conveniently printed to 27x40, not some > weird size like the ones that come out of Europe. > That allows customers to swap posters in and out of > a standard size movie poster frame. They are made on > photographic paper and in no way would you confuse > it for an original and they don't claim otherwise. I > don't know what type of licensing agreement they > have, if any. I'm sure most of these companies > reproducing posters don't have licensing agreements. > Portal does and I'm sure it irks them that they have > to pay those fees when all these other companies are > out there reproducing like crazy for no fees. Just > guessing. > > Sue > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Tom A. Pennock > To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> > Sent: Thursday, June 07, 2007 10:09 AM > Subject: [MOPO] MovieGoods? > > > How does the company MovieGoods get away with > reproducing ALL those movie posters, lobby cards, > EVERYTHING? Someone said it's because they are > really based out of Canada. I would think legally > royalties would have to be paid. These prints are > not licenced like the Portal's and other were or are > now. These are just run off with total disregard > for the studio's and copyright holders. > > --Tom Pennock > > > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > See what's free at AOL.com. > Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at > www.filmfan.com<http://www.filmfan.com/> > > ___________________________________________________________________ > How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List > Send a message addressed to: > [EMAIL PROTECTED]<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L > The author of this message is solely responsible > for its content. > > Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at > www.filmfan.com<http://www.filmfan.com/> > > ___________________________________________________________________ > How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List > Send a message addressed to: > [EMAIL PROTECTED]<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L > The author of this message is solely responsible > for its content. > > Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at > www.filmfan.com<http://www.filmfan.com/> > > ___________________________________________________________________ > How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo > Mailing List > > Send a message addressed to: > [EMAIL PROTECTED]<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > In the BODY of your message type: > SIGNOFF MOPO-L > > The author of this message is solely responsible > for its content. > > ____________________________________________________________________________________ Need Mail bonding? 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