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Using Tintin: How do I get permissions?

Ivan the Dictator
Member
#1 · Posted: 27 Dec 2016 15:13
Hi. I am Ivan Yevgenyevich Milenin, aka, Ivan the Dictator. I was born on January 31, 2000 in Russia, but living in the United States.

I came here to adapt a series of The Adventures of Tintin, but, I may expect that if I don't have permission to do so, I will be in critical trouble regarding with the law.

I understand that these copyrights belong to Hergé/ Moulinsart, and somehow explicitly reserved to the exclusive rights to Hergé and the other publishers, and I respect that.

I don't know of this discussion can be credited as fan fiction work, but I am not intended here to steal and make money, should anything be related as copyright infringement.

But what I came here for is how to receive permission on using the series of Tintin, and making and posting it to YouTube, as an own version of Tintin, but if that's considered fan work, which is not allowed by the order of Moulinsart, then please allow my to share my apologies.

But what is confusing is... Does a self worker has to do work that is strictly entirely by it's own?
I know the reason for the answer, but how come?

Even if so, how did Spielberg have rights to use an adaptation of Tintin?
I know why, but, does it have to do with the rights being sold? Is that the case?
(Take for example of Spider-Man and Batman, and Superman. These franchises made various adaptations, because I learned that that the owner sold the rights to various TV and movie directors and producers.)

So, if you can, I will receive the response, whether this discussion is not valid and be able to close this thread, or maybe there could be an opportunity, excluding illegal books, such is, Tintin in Thailand, or Breaking Free, or for how Tintin got a job by Yves Rodier.

But let me know if getting permission to use the rights of Tintin from the respectful works of Hergé of deciding what books to use when some of them are acceptable or not acceptable. I won't deny you, but let me know as soon as you can.

Thanks.

Warm regards,

Ivan.
jock123
Moderator
#2 · Posted: 2 Jan 2017 14:14
Ivan the Dictator:
I came here to adapt a series of The Adventures of Tintin, but, I may expect that if I don't have permission to do so, I will be in critical trouble regarding with the law.

If you make an adaptation for your own private use, not to be shared with other people, you can do what you like. If you decide to make them available (so publish them in print, or put them on the web) then, yes, you will undoubtedly have problems with the law if you don't seek and get permission for your project first.

Ivan the Dictator:
I am not intended here to steal and make money, should anything be related as copyright infringement.

Making money has little or nothing to do with the issue, although it might have a bearing later on in a legal case: the need to get permission first still is the important thing to keep in mind.

Ivan the Dictator:
what I came here for is how to receive permission on using the series of Tintin, and making and posting it to YouTube, as an own version of Tintin,

You could approach Moulinsart and ask them for permission, but it is almost certainly going to meet with a reply of "no".
Doing it without asking permission, is, again, putting yourself on the wrong side of copyright.

Ivan the Dictator:
But what is confusing is... Does a self worker has to do work that is strictly entirely by it's own?

I'm afraid I don't understand your point here, but hope it is covered by the information above and elsewhere on the site.

Ivan the Dictator:
how did Spielberg have rights to use an adaptation of Tintin?

Initially he asked Hergé before Hergé died (it was in the works from the 1980s). Unfortunately they never met, but coincidentally Hergé had already suggested that Spielberg was his choice to make a Tintin film, so there were no immediate objections.
Spielberg and his team came to a legal deal with Moulinsart, with a contract about how and what they could use and do, and presumably financial and other arrangements were made.

Ivan the Dictator:
These franchises made various adaptations, because I learned that that the owner sold the rights to various TV and movie directors and producers.

Yes, that is basically the way it works.

Ivan the Dictator:
let me know if getting permission to use the rights of Tintin from the respectful works of Hergé of deciding what books to use when some of them are acceptable or not acceptable.

Again I'm not 100% sure of what you are asking here, but you have to bear in mind that if it is creating completely new adventures is what you have in mind, you will be unlikely to get past the fact that Hergé asked that there be no new stories after his death, and his widow has maintained that position as her general policy.

But here the discussion has to stop, as all we can do is speculate: only you can decide what to do next.

However, if you want to produce your Tintin stories and make them available legally, you will have to approach Moulinsart first.
cliveyoung
Member
#3 · Posted: 22 Feb 2019 18:40
Can you clarify the above comments regarding Casterman and Moulinsart. So, if Ivan wants to adapt a published Tintin story, be it to film, novel or audible book, does he then need to contact both entities?
philcal
Member
#4 · Posted: 23 Feb 2019 03:33
https://news.artnet.com/art-world/tintin-rights-court-ruling-306273
jock123
Moderator
#5 · Posted: 24 Feb 2019 15:00
cliveyoung:
So, if Ivan wants to adapt a published Tintin story, be it to film, novel or audible book, does he then need to contact both entities?

It's got to be restated here - we aren't lawyers, and in all cases anyone actually needing to undertake work involving rights should seek proper advice from qualified persons, especially if working across international boundaries! But, depending on what you wanted to do, yes, contacting both would seem to make sense! :-)

philcal's link is to an article which basically rehashes the court case mentioned previously; my immediate thought on that one is that the headline is very confusing, as it mis-presents an important fact in the matter. The publishers (Casterman) did not "strip" anything from anyone.

A court interpreted a contract between Casterman in Hergé at the behest of a third party, and in doing so made the point that for the purposes of publication rights, Casterman should have pursued the case, not Moulinsart.

The court therefore said that Casterman had - since that contract was signed - always had those rights: there was nothing to be "stripped away".

The really interesting thing to me (as a layman) is that neither Casterman nor Hergé and his estate had ever interpreted the contract to mean what the judge said it meant; both seemed surprised at the outcome, and Casterman certainly didn't seem to see it as any sort of win for them.

It therefore remains to be seen (and we have no real right to expect that we be told what happens) if Casterman and Moulinsart have simply sat down and agreed to a new form of words to maintain the status quo.
Shivam302001
Member
#6 · Posted: 18 Feb 2020 18:50
Do I need to take permission to make videos about Tintin, simply from the educational point of view? Because I am thinking about opening a YouTube channel discussing the various aspects of the series. I will give all the links to the required official sites. So do I need to get Moulinsart's permission?
jock123
Moderator
#7 · Posted: 19 Feb 2020 12:11
Shivam302001:
Do I need to take permission to make videos about Tintin

No, any more than we need permission to have this site to talk about Tintin, or newspapers would have to get permission to print articles about Tintin.
Where you will need to take care is how much, if at all, you reproduce copyright material within your videos; a certain amount of lee-way is allowed for in law, under the concept of "fair use" - which makes it possible for people to comment, review or teach (as a few examples) about books, films, music etc., where a critic or commentator might use an image or section of a written work to make a point about it, without having to consult the author or owner of that work first. However, it is on a case-by-case basis, there are no hard and fast rules to say exactly how much or how long or whatever is "legal".

Good luck!
Aryan Tiwari
Member
#8 · Posted: 28 Feb 2020 13:24
Shivam302001:
Because I am thinking about opening a YouTube channel discussing the various aspects of the series.

Look if you want a start a Youtube channel based on tintin, there is an official tintin channel owned by Moulinsart . You can go to the comment section and ask there? The people controlling the channel respond to the comments regularly.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq7WRcqU3fKS4itJOxfmIMA is the link to their official channel. The channel name is 'Tinin' with around 4.3k subscribers...
jock123
Moderator
#9 · Posted: 28 Feb 2020 13:39
Aryan Tiwari:
Look if you want a start a Youtube channel based on tintin, there is an official tintin channel owned by Moulinsart

That wouldn't be the appropriate channel to seek permission; you would need to use the contact information from the official website, which can be found here.
Aryan Tiwari
Member
#10 · Posted: 28 Feb 2020 13:55
jock123
Since it was a YouTube channel, I had thought it might be appropriate to ask the people managing YouTube, nevertheless I was unaware of their contact information in the official website which yes, certainly would be more ideal.
Apologies for the misinformation...

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