who has the copyright for 70's & 80 adverts
Submitted by mrcplane on Tue, 02/12/2008 - 18:44.
Hi,
I am trying to track down who has the copyright release for popular adverts during the 70's & early 80's.
I want to use the adverts in a concert setting, not for commercial use (no pun intended), but don't want to infringe any copyrights.
Has anyone any clues where I should start, who to contact or if I even need to?
Tour starts in 3 weeks with a band from the era and I want to remind the audience of what was also current and made them smile during the same period.
Stuff like Marathon, Tunes, Opal fruits, whiskas (all Masterfoods and I have an email in to them), Cinzano & Hovis (CDP, I am talking to them), but I haven't got anywhere with Cadburys (fruit & Nut, Smash, Flake, Schweps), and there are a load more including car adverts, Brut, Texaco, BT - that yellow bird on a wire, and Humphrey nicking your milk.
Anyone with any clues or leads please advise.
Thanks
Greg
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Well you're certainly off to a good start with the masterfood bunch, as yep, the client/brand are usually the guys that own all rights. Though in some cases the people who created the ad can grant viewing (like at advertising awards or directing awards shows and stuff like that) - so finding the agency or production house that did it helps too.
All of these ads are UK ads right?
I don't know about the UK, but in the US, the advertiser owns the rights to their advertising for viewing in any public setting, commercial or otherwise. And as Dabitch correctly points out, agencies can supply ads to award shows, etc., but their client has the ultimate veto power. And while an advertiser would never say no to having their ads appear in Award shows, they might say no to a concert, movie, or other media event in certain specific situations.
For instance, I can tell you that the largest soft drink company in the world routinely turns down requests for the use of their products and commercials in movies which they deem "inappropriate" and "inconsistent" with their image.
Yeah but also here we're talking old ones for nostalgic touch, and possibly dead brands - have you seen them anywhere else recently mrcplane? Because I was just thinking that if they have recently aired on some "Historic commercial" show of some sort, you could check with them how they found the copyright holders.
But yes, concerts are "commercial" in the sense that it's actually a public airing of the ad - even if your concert is totally non-profit - which the advertiser could nix. In education you could re-show the ad in a lecture about said adverts and these brands over time or something where you are actually talking about the ads that you show and not using them as random background noise, that would be actual fair use - but public showings that aren't critiquing or parodying as far as I know, so they need permission. Then again, I am not a lawyer, and it's even possible that a lawyer might just say "do it and worry about it later when you get a C&D" in this day of youtube-infringes-everyone era. *shrug* It seems to be most peoples tactic, to be honest. It's not right, I don't condone it, I'm just pointing out that it happens.
Yes, but on the other hand, it could go way further than just a C&D order. If the advertiser had a legitimate claim that their brand was in some way damaged by association with the concert and they decided to file a more serious action for damages, that would become very costly. And historic or not, many of the brands mrcplane mentioned are alive and well, and protective of their image. Of course if this concert is benign, and noncontroversial, then there wouldn't be any damages for anyone to claim and nothing to worry about.
That's a pretty big gamble either way. Which is very rock'n'roll!
None of this talk is getting him any more leads though. :) Anyone else here know where mrcplane might turn for info?
Well, his question was who has the copyright release for the ads he wants, and clearly the final authority is the advertiser. So he should contact the PR department at each company, and they'll driect him to the right person.