Actress In Anti-Muslim Film May Have Flimsy Copyright Case

October 1, 2012 – Article

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An actress who appeared in the anti-Islam film that sparked protests around the world faces an uphill battle as she seeks to block distribution of the film by arguing that it infringes the copyright on her performance, since there is little legal precedent supporting an actor's claim to a copyright interest in a film, attorneys said.

Courts have rarely addressed the issue because virtually all professional productions require actors and others involved with a film to sign a work-for-hire agreement assigning to the producer the copyright in their contributions. According to Jesse Saivar of Greenberg Glusker Fields Claman & Machtinger LLP, that sounds unlikely because work for hire language tends to be included in everyone year on the executive board of the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis Young Lawyers Division as a student chair. He also served as a Representative and as a Delegate to the American Bar Association. Tyson is a founding member of the Veterans Bar Association in St. Louis.
Tyson graduated magna cum laude from the University of Missouri with a Bachelors of Science in Business and an emphasis in Marketing. He later obtained his Juris Doctorate from Saint Louis University School of Law. In law school, Tyson served on the executive board of the Student Bar Association and as a Senator for the University's Student Government Association.
Prior to attending the University of Missouri, Tyson served in the United States Army with the 7228th Medical Support Unit in Fort