# Legal question



## augustof (Apr 24, 2018)

Hi guys. Planning a new VI here. I came up with the idea of recreating 80's synth sound from Stranger Things intro theme and similar sounds (arpeggiators, pads, leads, etc). I'm planning to name it Stranger "Synths"... anyone knows if this will be a legal issue?


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## fretti (Apr 24, 2018)

augustof said:


> Hi guys. Planning a new VI here. I came up with the idea of recreating 80's synth sound from Stranger Things intro theme and similar sounds (arpeggiators, pads, leads, etc). I'm planning to name it Stranger "Synths"... anyone knows if this will be a legal issue?


No copyright lawyer (actually no full lawyer at all), but I‘d say it depends on your differences in design, and how you market it. If the references are to „obvious“/ the similarities to big it might come in conflict (depends of course on how big your VI will become in the industry).
You can‘t say „the synths from stranger things“ as it is (just a guess though) probably a copyrighted name, logo etc..
Also your Logo looks to similar/copied so it’s possible that they sue you over copying their protected property. Might wanna ask the copyright owners how they would react to that, can be that they would be honored and allow you the use of their „stuff“ for a small fee or percentage in revenue.


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## d.healey (Apr 24, 2018)

Consult a lawyer. The name itself probably isn't too risky but that branding is


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## fretti (Apr 24, 2018)

d.healey said:


> Consult a lawyer. The name itself probably isn't too risky but that branding is


That’s of course also an option (or probably more a must). Also it depends on your Country. Many movies, tv series have different copyright holders/owners in different countries. Might make a huge difference.


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## augustof (Apr 24, 2018)

fretti said:


> No copyright lawyer (actually no full lawyer at all), but I‘d say it depends on your differences in design, and how you market it. If the references are to „obvious“/ the similarities to big it might come in conflict (depends of course on how big your VI will become in the industry).
> You can‘t say „the synths from stranger things“ as it is (just a guess though) probably a copyrighted name, logo etc..
> Also your Logo looks to similar/copied so it’s possible that they sue you over copying their protected property. Might wanna ask the copyright owners how they would react to that, can be that they would be honored and allow you the use of their „stuff“ for a small fee or percentage in revenue.



Thanks!!!! Will try to get in touch with the ® owners.


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## augustof (Apr 24, 2018)

d.healey said:


> Consult a lawyer. The name itself probably isn't too risky but that branding is



Will do so! thanks again


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## augustof (Apr 24, 2018)

fretti said:


> That’s of course also an option (or probably more a must). Also it depends on your Country. Many movies, tv series have different copyright holders/owners in different countries. Might make a huge difference.



Big brands use to register names/logos worldwide. As far as I know, the should do that for every country, but those guys have the resources to do so.


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## mac (Apr 24, 2018)

I'll just leave this here... https://www.loopmasters.com/genres/81-Synths/products/5543-Stranger-Synths


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## augustof (Apr 24, 2018)

mac said:


> I'll just leave this here... https://www.loopmasters.com/genres/81-Synths/products/5543-Stranger-Synths



WhyI don't googled it first..... Thanks. I guess will try some other ideas then :(


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## fretti (Apr 24, 2018)

augustof said:


> Big brands use to register names/logos worldwide. As far as I know, the should do that for every country, but those guys have the resources to do so.


Yes, but companies sometimes use subsidiary companies in specific regions wich belong to the company itself, but handle all the things for that region (North America, South A., Europe etc or even for specific countries e.g. „Universal Music Group Germany“). So I think that sometimes it can be quite tricky to actually see which of these are actually responsible for specific rights/markets


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## robgb (Apr 24, 2018)

You will likely be sent a cease and desist for anything that even slightly threatens a brand, assuming they even know you exist. It's my understanding (and I'm no lawyer) that the attorneys will go after everything they can because otherwise the company can lose their copyright/trademark/whatever. Personally, I wouldn't get too hung up on calling it Stranger Synths. Just make a great VI and give it an original name. If it's good, they will come.


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## robgb (Apr 24, 2018)

mac said:


> I'll just leave this here... https://www.loopmasters.com/genres/81-Synths/products/5543-Stranger-Synths


Wonder if they got permission, because it's not trying to hide anything. Or maybe they're hoping no one will notice?


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## fretti (Apr 24, 2018)

robgb said:


> Wonder if they got permission, because it's not trying to hide anything. Or maybe they're hoping no one will notice?


Well given their marketing text (just overflown it) it seems likely they got permission or something similar (?), as I wouldn't take the risk to even say it 'was inspired by stranger things sound and mood' and getting sued out of existence...but who knows, maybe they just have "balls of steel" to do that.


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## chillbot (Apr 24, 2018)

You know who would care about infringement of a synth sample library? I doubt netflix would ever notice or care. But the composers Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein might. And they might actually be the ones to stumble across it. From their viewpoint, it might be personal, like "hey these aren't the sounds that we used".

Why don't you reach out to them, maybe you could do a possible collaboration if they were interested... they could share a few sounds with you... and in turn you could market it as a "ground-breaking and game-changing sounds inspired by and brought to you by the emmy-winning and grammy-nominated composing team from Stranger Things!" (Or whatever.) Might be an angle to play anyway, shouldn't be too hard to track them down these days via social media networks....


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## Brian2112 (Apr 24, 2018)

You might have more legal issues with how you make your library. If I remember correctly, you can only sample a synth that is producing sound through an oscillator in real time (i.e. older analog synths). 80s synths that use pcm data are protected so you really run a risk sampling them. And in almost all circumstances it is not legal (or at least a violation of EULAs) to sample any virtual instrument no matter how much you mutilate it.


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## Reid Rosefelt (Apr 24, 2018)

FYI, Reverb.com came out with "The Sounds of Stranger Things" in August, 2016. It includes 3 templates of MIDI arrangements and custom sounds for the opening theme, customized for ProTools, Ableton, and GarageBand. 



They originally gave it away for free, but now they are charging $4 here.


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