If You Want To Have Sex With Charlie Sheen, You Have To Give Him The Copyrights On Any Photos You Take Of Him

Copyright

from the wait,-what? dept

As you may have heard, last week actor Charlie Sheen announced that he is HIV positive, which got lots of news coverage. Related to that, In Touch magazine produced the non disclosure agreement (NDA) that it claims “Charlie Sheen had his sexual partners sign when they came to his house.” I guess if you’re a celebrity known for sleeping around, this is the kind of thing you have your lawyers cook up for you. But what struck me as interesting was that, beyond the basic NDA language, there was some copyright language concerning any images, videos or sound recordings. You can understand why Sheen (and his lawyers) don’t want anyone taking pictures of him or even talking about the relationship to book or magazine writers, so they include some bizarre copyright transfer language for the partner to agree to:

1.3 No Participation in Books or Articles. Without Your advance express written consent, I will not give or participate in any interviews, write or be a source for, any articles, books, programs, or stories about You or the Related Parties, whether truthful, fictionalized, on the record, or “off the record.” If I breach these promises, My copyright in any such unauthorized material shall be automatically and immediately transferred by Me to You as of its creation and in perpetuity, and this Agreement shall constitute a valid transfer of copyright.

1.4 Images and Recordings. Without Your advance express written consent, I will not create any photographs, movies, videos, sound or image recordings or otherwise capture any depictions or likenesses of You, Your family, friends, associates or employees (“Images and Recordings”). If I breach these promises any images and Recordings I create shall be considered Confidential Information, and My copyright in them shall be deemed automatically and immediately transferred by Me to You as of its creation and in perpetuity, and this Agreement shall constitute a valid transfer of copyright. If you expressly direct Me to create any Images and Recordings, they will be Confidential Information in which I have no legal rights or interest whatsoever, including any copyright, trademark, “moral rights,” patent, or other similar rights, and I convey, transfer and assign to You all of My right, title and interest (if any) of whatever kind or nature in all Images and Recordings as of their creation and in perpetuity, and this Agreement shall constitute a valid transfer of copyrights.

Of course, the “in perpetuity” is not really accurate, as you can’t give up your termination rights, even with a contractual agreement, to take back your copyrights after 35 years, but, really, that’s besides the point. I do wonder how valid Section 1.3 is at all. If the partner is interviewed for a book or a magazine article, there likely isn’t any copyright for Sheen’s partner to transfer in the first place, as nothing is “fixed” by that partner. Furthermore, in most cases, the book or magazine author/publisher would likely have a strong fair use claim if Sheen tried to have those quotes deleted via copyright. If anything, this just seems like a way to make it sound scary to go out and talk to a magazine or book author.

The transfer of copyright in the photos and videos at least seems a bit more legit, if still sketchy. Of course, once again, though, this shows where copyright is being used directly for censorship purposes, entirely divorced from its supposed purpose of providing incentives to create.

Filed Under: charlie sheen, copyright