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Viva Communications, Inc. through its counsel Heather Annang spoke with InterAksyon and other media on June 23 and clarified why there is no basis for Cherie Gil’s copyright claim for her memorable line, “You’re nothing but a second-rate, trying hard copycat!” in 1985 film, Bituing Walang Ningning.
Viva enumerated 4 reasons why Cherie Gil’s copyright claims are not valid. One of the reasons directly contradicts Cherie Gil’s claims that the intellectual property rights of the line belongs to her.
Heather Annang stated in her press interview, “According to Direk Maning, he was the one who thought of the line. Since he is also a scriptwriter, Boss Vic del Rosario of Viva gave him a free hand to rehash and revise the script, so even before the shooting began, Direk Maning already revised the script and added that particular line.”
She further added, “Finally, a copyright exists only for 25 years. For audiovisual works like this film, the reckoning point is the date of publish or print. The movie was released in 1985 so that’s already 30 years ago today so the copyright no longer exists. That’s the position of Viva.”
Viva is firm in keeping the line from the Bituing Walang Ningning: The Musical, a theatre adaptation of the famous film. The musical opened last June 17 at the Newport Performing Arts Theater in Resorts World Manila.
Photo: News clip
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