If someone wrote a book or a screenplay based on a plot that shakespeare had used, but with modern situations, and nothing of the same written word, is that illegal? Do I HAVE to mention shakespeare if my screenplay is SOMETHING like one of his plays?
Is Shakespeare's work protected????
2006-12-01 06:01:57 · 7 answers · asked by gg 7 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Books & Authors
Shakespeare's works are too old to be in copyright, so you could even use the same written word if you wanted. And of course, many movies and stories have used his plots.
Even if he were still protected, if you just used basic plot ideas and no words, you might be ok under copyright laws. In general, the ideas are not protected, just their expression. With plots it gets a little tricky -- it could be possible to be liable for following a plot step by step, but for the most part plots are general and can be borrowed with payment, license or attribution.
It might be nice to say "based on a play by Shakespeare" but there is no legal reason to do so. (And if you take protected material from a modern work, it doesn't provide any legal cover to cite the source -- thats a standard for plagiarism in an academic or journalistic work, but doesn't carry any weight for legal copyright issues.)
(P.S. -- just a historical note regarding the post above: the most recent major revision of US Copyright law was in 1979, but copyright law has existed as long as the US has: it is written into the Constitution.)
2006-12-01 08:49:32 · answer #1 · answered by C_Bar 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You could even take lines straight out of Shakespeare's text if you wanted to without incurring any penalties. Copyright law is fairly modern (I think it dates back to the 70s), and it really doesn't apply to text that is that old. Once a literary work (etcetera) has been around for that long, it is considered part of the public domain. And anyway, I think it would be pretty obvious if the plot is similar to one of Shakespeare's plays...
2006-12-01 06:33:47 · answer #2 · answered by FunnyValentine 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
totally agree with the first response, just state in the credits somewhere an adaptation of... or based on the Shakespearian comedy..... that should be sufficient, however if you get as far as someone loving it and backing it or publishing it officially, they will help you properly credit the work. They are there to protect you, because you are their asset or investment and their job is to help you succeed, screwing that up or having plagiarism be a controversey would be a real bad mark on their rep. If you really want to know call a publishing company and see what steps you may need to take, so someone else doesn't beat you to the idea!
Look how many times the play "dangerous liasons" has been revamped...
"Valmont"... "Cruel Intentions"(they didn't even bother to change the character names)
Good Luck
-Tanya
2006-12-01 06:18:35 · answer #3 · answered by Tanya N (thesingingbeaner) 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
No it is not illegal- or unethical. For instance, "West Side Story" is based on "Romeo and Juliet." You don't HAVE to mention Shakespeare but if it is obvious- it is best to do so. The movie “Ran” was similar to “King Lear” but the creator of Ran, filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, didn’t realize it was until it was pointed out to him later.
All of the works of Shakespeare and in the public domain.
2006-12-01 06:23:10 · answer #4 · answered by David D 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It does no longer be plagiarism, as indicated by any human beings's solutions, even though it will be incorrect, reckoning on the guidelines you would possibly want to save on with in writing your piece. Do you imagine your instructor will be ok such as your using a gadget to finish the project? i'm guessing no longer. in case you take advantage of an digital translator to do the translating for you, it would want to come out incorrect, yet you does no longer comprehend it till you probably did your human being translation from Shakespearean English to perfect away's English. All that glisters isn't gold, commonly have you ever heard that informed. So even once you're going to apply a translator, the perfect idea is to study the passage, translate all of it by your self, then examine it hostile to what the translator shows. perchance some words will come out extra useful translated by the gadget, and also you could modify what you wrote with that information--again, on condition that your instructor helps that. reliable luck.
2016-11-30 00:38:33 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
his works are not protected...they are public domain...if your work is directly inspired on a one of his plays, you should write "Inspired by (or based on) a play by Shakespeare"....interestingly, only a few of Shakespeare's plays were truly original; he "stole" plots from earlier works and mythology...it's not the plot that's important, it's what you do with it.
2006-12-01 06:05:34 · answer #6 · answered by jcresnick 5 · 4⤊ 0⤋
Shakespeare is public domain - you can do whatever you want with it.
2006-12-01 06:10:40 · answer #7 · answered by Kutekymmee 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋