selling movie in US at DVinfo.net

Andzei Matsukevits · May 15th, 2005, 06:32 PM

I was planning to sell my upcoming movies(snowboard/wakeboard) in states through different web sites. All movies are made in Europe. I know that in my country it's not gonna be problem of selling your art work. But states are different, should i be afraid of any US laws and stuff? Do i need to get any extra paperwork from somewhere or things like that?
I have permissions for all soundtracks and all that kind of stuff. I also will have registered TM if its matters...

Matt Champagne · June 12th, 2005, 06:57 PM

So far (and hopefully for some time) you shouldn't have any problems selling in the US over the internet. The fact is you probably have more protection than you need. There is very very little regulation on internet commerce in the United States, and as long as you aren't going to the extreme violating child pornography or terrorism laws you should be just fine. You aren't selling anything big or in bulk, so I don't think you have to worry about any import or export taxes (or rather that is paid for through the outragous shipping prices your carrier will charge you).

One thing to be aware of though is if you do not have a U.S. trademark it may be possible for someone to use your name in the US. Also, intellectual property laws in the US state that first use in a region overrides national and international trademark laws, meaning that if your name is Snowboard, Inc and someone else in New York has been selling dvds for longer than you have under the name Snowboard, Inc...then you have right to use the name anywhere except in those regions where that person did business.

Now one exception to this is if you are inside the US, selling to your own state. Then you are responsible for state sales taxes.

Heath McKnight · June 12th, 2005, 10:10 PM

I don't know what the rules are for outside filmmakers, but I really like this company:

www.customflix.com

heath

May 15th, 2005, 06:32 PM	#1
Andzei Matsukevits Major Player Join Date: May 2005 Location: Tallinn, Estonia Posts: 300	selling movie in US I was planning to sell my upcoming movies(snowboard/wakeboard) in states through different web sites. All movies are made in Europe. I know that in my country it's not gonna be problem of selling your art work. But states are different, should i be afraid of any US laws and stuff? Do i need to get any extra paperwork from somewhere or things like that? I have permissions for all soundtracks and all that kind of stuff. I also will have registered TM if its matters...

June 12th, 2005, 10:10 PM	#3
Heath McKnight MPS Digital Studios Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Palm Beach County, Florida Posts: 8,531	I don't know what the rules are for outside filmmakers, but I really like this company: www.customflix.com heath __________________ My Final Cut Pro X blog

June 12th, 2005, 06:57 PM	#2
Matt Champagne Major Player Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: New Iberia, LA Posts: 229	So far (and hopefully for some time) you shouldn't have any problems selling in the US over the internet. The fact is you probably have more protection than you need. There is very very little regulation on internet commerce in the United States, and as long as you aren't going to the extreme violating child pornography or terrorism laws you should be just fine. You aren't selling anything big or in bulk, so I don't think you have to worry about any import or export taxes (or rather that is paid for through the outragous shipping prices your carrier will charge you). One thing to be aware of though is if you do not have a U.S. trademark it may be possible for someone to use your name in the US. Also, intellectual property laws in the US state that first use in a region overrides national and international trademark laws, meaning that if your name is Snowboard, Inc and someone else in New York has been selling dvds for longer than you have under the name Snowboard, Inc...then you have right to use the name anywhere except in those regions where that person did business. Now one exception to this is if you are inside the US, selling to your own state. Then you are responsible for state sales taxes.