Q: I’ve been negotiating an option on a book for a few weeks and we’re about to the point where we’re going to sign the paperwork. The book is a pretty standard detective novel. The other day the author happened to mention that he had already sold one of his books to a studio. It turns out that the book he already sold shares the main character (the detective) with the book I’m interested in. If the plots are completely different between the two books, does this even matter?

A: Unfortunately, it likely does matter. Generally, when a studio or producer acquires “movie” rights to a book, it acquires “character” rights. In other words, in your case, the author likely granted to the studio, among other things, the exclusive right to make movies containing the characters in that book. Therefore, you may infringe upon the studio’s rights if you make a movie based on the book you’re optioning, because it will contain the character the studio already exclusively “owns.”