BIG BROTHER - 1984 OWNERS ARE WATCHING BIG BROTHER AD

The owners of the TV and film rights to George Orwell's 1984 said Tuesday that they are monitoring closely the controversy over a spoof of Apple's 1984 "Big Brother" ad produced by a supporter of Sen. Barak Obama, in which Hilary Clinton is portrayed as Big Brother. "We recognize the legal issues inherent under the First Amendment and the copyright law as to political expression of opinion, but we want the world at large to know that we take our copyright ownership of one of the world's great novels very seriously," Gina Rosenblum, president of Rosenblum Productions Inc., said in a statement. She noted that after Apple's original ad aired during the 1984 Super Bowl, "we immediately objected to this unauthorized commercial use of the novel, and sent a 'cease-and-desist' letter both to Apple and to its ad agency. The commercial never aired on television again."

28/03/2007