Copyright Short clip of mine is in a popular movie

[ericoli]

Jurisdiction

Texas

Long story short; I shot footage at a racetrack that appeared in a very popular movie. I didn't get any approval from the movie studio or anyone to have this in their movie. It's really short in the film, maybe 4-5 frames, but it is still my footage.

I uploaded the video to youtube, where then someone stole the footage and re-uploaded it, then the company bought the footage from that person.

The footage is copyrighted under my name, and was before the movie came out here in the US.

What rights do I have here?

 

[army judge]

Long story short; I shot footage at a racetrack that appeared in a very popular movie. I didn't get any approval from the movie studio or anyone to have this in their movie. It's really short in the film, maybe 4-5 frames, but it is still my footage.

I uploaded the video to youtube, where then someone stole the footage and re-uploaded it, then the company bought the footage from that person.

The footage is copyrighted under my name, and was before the movie came out here in the US.

What rights do I have here?

You copyright has been infringed upon.

All you need to know. Read it. Absorb it. Understand it.


http://images.jw.com/com/publications/354.pdf

Consequences & Penalties - Copyright - Guides at Texas A&M University

It might be worth your time to speak with a lawyer to assess what this infringement might be worth.

 

[adjusterjack]

Might be worth a lot of money to you if the movie made a lot of money. Well worth paying for the services of an intellectual property attorney although initial consults are likely to be free and you might be able to get an attorney to take the case on a contingency (no guarantee there).

Unfortunately, the case might also be worth nothing if your few frames resemble thousands of stock footage of racetracks that have been used in movies for 100 years.