Professor Victoria Schwartz Quoted in "A Novelist Says a Movie Fails to Credit Her" -- New York Times

Professor Victoria L. Schwartz is quoted in the New York Times article, "A Novelist Says a Movie Fails to Credit Her. The Film World Shrugs."  The article considers the Chinese film “One Second", directed by Zhang Yimou, that follows the plotline of Geling Yan's 2011 novel “The Criminal Lu Yanshi,” about a Chinese intellectual who is sent to a labor camp in the 1950s.

Excerpt from "Geling Yan Says a Movie Fails to Credit Her. The Film World Shrugs"

In Ms. Yan’s case, her lawyers would probably not be able to make a strong legal case for giving her a credit in “One Second” because Mr. Zhang never agreed in writing to do so, said Victoria L. Schwartz, a law professor at Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif.

However, legal exposure is not the same as reputational risk, said Professor Schwartz, who specializes in entertainment law and intellectual property disputes. Ms. Yan’s campaign, she said, raises the question of whether the film industry in the United States, including labor unions that represent writers, should develop better standards for evaluating international films from “censor-heavy markets.”

“Should there be norms in place?” Professor Schwartz said. “Should these companies do better not because they have to legally, but because it’s the right thing to do?”