Using Branded and Recognisable Products in Film – Information for Filmmakers
It is commonplace for characters in films to eat, drink, drive, purchase and wear branded products. Filmmakers wanting to use branded or recognisable products in their films should consider the relevant legal issues and also the money-making opportunities that exist when placing products in films. This information sheet will cover three key areas:
1. Restrictions on the use of tobacco products in your film;
2. General legal issues when using recognizable brands and products in your film; and
3. Product placement – a means of raising funds for your film.
Using Tobacco Products in Film
There are national as well as State laws in Australia that impose obligations on filmmakers in relation to tobacco products. In essence, these laws prohibit any advertisement (which is defined widely to mean more than the conventional idea of an advertisement) for tobacco products in a film or television broadcast in Australia.
The Tobacco Advertising Prohibition Act 1992 (Cth) (TAP Act) aims to restrict the exposure of the public to messages and images that promote, encourage or persuade people to smoke or continue smoking.
It prohibits incorporating a tobacco advertisement into a film and defines a tobacco advertisement as including a moving picture that:
• gives publicity to, promotes or intends to promote;
• smoking, the purchase of tobacco products, a particular brand of tobacco product, a specific tobacco manufacturer or any words or images closely associated with a tobacco product.
There are exceptions when a film will not infringe this prohibition, for example if the purpose of the footage is to discourage smoking or the use of tobacco products. Accidental or incidental publication/broadcasting of tobacco advertisements is also allowed where:
a) the person publishes/broadcasts the advertisement as an accidental or incidental accompaniment to the publishing/broadcasting of other matter; and
b) the person does not receive any direct or indirect benefit (whether financial or not) for publishing/broadcasting the advertisement (in addition to any direct or indirect benefit that the person receives for publishing/broadcasting the other matter).
The court has held that to fall into an exception like this the tobacco advertisement must not dominate or form a substantial feature of a program.
Films, videos and programs that have not yet been screened in public may offend the tobacco advertising prohibitions if it is intended that they be screened in public. Promoting a film that contains a prohibited tobacco advertisement is also prohibited. Therefore TV stations, film distributors and cinemas are unlikely to want to purchase content if it offends the TAP Act.
You can not make an agreement to, for example, receive funding monies for a film in return for using a particular brand of cigarettes in your film because the TAP Act prohibits agreements which promote or publicise a tobacco product, brand name or manufacturer in return for some sponsorship.
Russell Crowe Example
In an interview for the current affairs television show 60 Minutes, Russell Crowe was shown smoking a cigarette and with a Marlborough packet in front of him. This broadcast was considered to be a tobacco advertisement, but was not an infringement of the TAP Act as it was an accidental or incidental accompaniment to the other footage.
However, when the same footage was shown on a later episode as part of a “Mailbag” viewer feedback segment, the court considered that the tobacco advertisement was not accidental or incidental and the broadcaster had infringed the tobacco product placement prohibitions. This was despite the fact that the segment was concerned mainly with viewer displeasure at Russell Crowe’s smoking. In part, however, the court did not see it necessary to broadcast the actual footage of the smoking along with the complaint letters, and the Mailbag segment was a dispassionate review of correspondence that did not necessarily take an anti-smoking stance.
It seems likely that a televised news item portraying a public scene where tobacco marketing images are visible will be merely incidental to the broadcast and therefore unlikely to be an infringement.
What happens if you don’t comply?
Under the TAP Act, you can be fined up to $13,200 for incorporating a tobacco advertisement into a film or broadcasting it.
Use of Other Branded or Recognisable Products in Film
The following areas of law are relevant to using branded or recognizable products in film:
• trade mark;
• copyright;
• passing off; and
• misleading or deceptive conduct.
Trade Mark
A trade mark is a sign used in business to indicate that goods or services come from a particular trader or service provider. A trade mark can be a letter, name, signature, word, numeric device, brand, heading, label, aspect of packaging or shape, and even a scent or sound. It can consist of words alone or images alone or a combination of words and images.
The Trade Marks Act 1985 (Cth) prohibits unauthorised use of trade marks as trade marks. In other words, use of a trade mark to indicate a connection between the goods or services and the manufacturer or service provider (for more information see Arts Law Centre’s Information Sheet ‘Trade marks’).
The question for filmmakers is whether the placement of products bearing a trade mark in their film is use of the trade mark as a trade mark. The answer to this question is generally “no”. If a character is simply drinking from a can of coke bearing the ‘COCA-COLA’ trade mark or wearing a t-shirt bearing the ‘MAMBO’ trade mark there will be no trade mark infringement. The trade mark is not being used as a ‘badge of origin’ and as such is not an issue for the filmmaker.
Copyright
Another issue to consider when placing branded products in films is whether the label bears an artistic work and whether the reproduction and communication to the public of that artistic work in a film could be a copyright infringement. The Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) defines "artistic works" to include paintings, sculptures, drawings, engravings or photographs “whether the work is of artistic quality or not”. Clearly some logos come within the ambit of this definition.
Copyright owners of artistic works control the right to:
• reproduce (by photographing, photocopying, filming);
• publish (by making copies available for sale) and;
• communicate the work to the public (via television, radio or the internet.)
To use a ‘substantial’ part of an artistic work in one of these ways, without the permission of the owner, is a copyright infringement. Defences for infringement include fair dealing for the purpose of criticism and review, news and current affairs reporting, parody and satire, and research and study. Additionally in the case of artistic works:
“copyright ... is not infringed by the inclusion of the work in a cinematograph film or in a television broadcast if its inclusion in the film or broadcast is only incidental to the principle matters represented in the film or broadcast.”
What is regarded as “incidental" is a question of degree and will depend on the circumstances of the particular case. An example of “incidental use” would be a painting in an art gallery incidentally televised during an interview with the gallery director. If however, the gallery director was interviewed standing in front of a particular painting for the whole interview and the artwork was in focus it would be more difficult to argue that such use was “incidental”.
With respect to product placement in film, a filmmaker will in most cases, have a strong argument when using branded products or well known logos in a film, that such use is “incidental”. A character in a film wearing sunglasses bearing the Gucci logo or eating from a pizza box bearing the PIZZA HUT logo is arguably an “incidental” use of the artistic work in the film. Whether or not the use of an artistic work in a film is “incidental” will depend on a number of considerations including the prominence of the artistic work, the importance of the art work to the script of the film, the duration of time in which the logo is visible. For specific advice on whether an intended use of an artistic work is “incidental” the filmmaker should contact the Arts Law Centre of Australia.
If the use of the art work in a film is more than “incidental”, the filmmaker should probably seek permission in the form of a licence from the copyright owner. Generally, licensing the use of a copyright work will involve the payment of a licence fee to the copyright owner. However, in the context of films and the use of artistic works embodied in logos and branded products, the copyright owner will often see commercial benefit in having their products included in the film. As a consequence, filmmakers may be able to negotiate a product placement deal with a brand owner which will actually subsidise the cost of producing the film.
Passing-Off and Misleading and Deceptive Conduct
The legal action for passing off protects business reputation from wrongful appropriation. In the context of product placement in film, the following elements would need to be established:
1. goodwill or reputation in the branded product;
2. a misrepresentation, by the filmmaker, of a connection between the brand owner’s product and the filmmaker’s film/business; and
3. financial damage, or threat of it, usually in the form of lost sponsorship fees.
A closely related legal action is an action for misleading or deceptive conduct under the Trade Practices Act 1974 (Cth) (TPA). Actions for passing off are usually brought in conjunction with a TPA claim. Passing off is founded upon protection of goodwill or reputation of a business, whereas a TPA claim is directed at preventing the deception of consumers which in turn may injure goodwill or reputation.
With respect to product placement in film, the brand owner may claim that the inclusion of their product in the film implies an association with or endorsement from the brand owner. The strength of such a claim is clearly going to depend on the way in which the product is used and how prominently it features in the film. As with the copyright infringement, whether a brand owner could have an action in passing off is going to depend on the particular circumstances of the case. Where the product is actually integrated into the plot of the film without agreement from the brand owner, it is more likely that the brand owner could bring a successful passing off action. An example of actual product integration can be seen in HBO's Sex and The City, where the plot involved an attractive male model who was dating one of the main characters. The male model was part of an Absolut Vodka advertising campaign. The particular episode centred around a billboard in Times Square featuring the model naked protected only by a large Absolut Vodka bottle. For specific advice on whether the product placement in your film raises issues of passing off please contact the Arts Law Centre of Australia.
To avoid liability for passing off or misleading or deceptive conduct it may be a good idea to include a disclaimer at the beginning of the film making clear that the film is not endorsed by or associated with any of the products featured in the film. An alternative is to contact the brand owner seeking written permission to use the products in your film. As mentioned above, the savvy negotiator may even be able to negotiate some benefit for the film from the brand owner in return for the inclusion of the product in the film.
Product Placement
Product placement in films is widespread. We are all familiar with the use of Omega watches and Aston Martin cars in the James Bond films or Motorola mobile phones in The Departed. The objective of entering into a product placement deal for the brand owner is to obtain a form of subconscious advertising by showing the product in an apparently non-commercial context. For the low budget filmmaker, product placement can be a way of getting props or costumes for free or sometimes even getting some cash.
Even low-budget filmmakers may be able to negotiate advantageous product placement deals. Low-budget films may provide marketing access to a niche market. The low budget filmmaker should consider why an association with their film may appeal to a sponsor and therefore make an appropriate pitch. If the characters in the film are young and trendy and drinking lots of beer (as in the TV show The Secret Life of Us) and there is a beer manufacturer that is repositioning its brand as young and funky, then they may be very keen to have the characters in your film sipping on their beer.
If you agree to profile a brand in your film in exchange for some benefit, it is important to be clear, preferably in writing, about the terms of the arrangement.
- Don’t commit to something you are not willing or able to offer. The producers of Die Hard 2 learned this the hard way. They agreed to use a Black & Decker power tool in a scene in exchange for Black & Decker promoting the film. When that scene ended up on the cutting room floor Black & Decker ran straight to its lawyers, managing to negotiate a substantial settlement fee.
- Be open and honest about the type of film you are making and how the brand will appear in the film. If the brand thinks it is agreeing to allow its product to be used in a family drama, and you are in fact planning on producing a soft porn thriller, you are going to run into problems.
- Be specific about what your obligations are in relation to profiling the brand and what the brand owner will provide in return. If they are providing cash, how much and when will it be payable? If they are providing free products, what, how many, when and who will deliver them? Will the brand owner be given any creative control over the product placement in the film?
- If you agree to credit the brand owner then be specific about the size of the credit, where it will appear and whether it will consist of their logo, their name or both.
While you obviously do not want to compromise the integrity of your film by using branded products in a way that makes your film look like a montage of advertisements, product placement can an effective way of subsidising production costs.
Need more help?
If you have questions about any of the topics discussed above please contact the Arts Law Centre of Australia.
Telephone: (02) 9356 2566 or tollfree outside Sydney 1800 221 457