Q: Is it possible to recreate a scene from an american movie with adjusted lines and use it as a video ad for my business?
The scene is not unique, just two people sitting and talking. But overall a viewer can obviously get the idea of where the inspiration came from, since that movie is well known (though over 20 years old by now). The text is changed, but still about 50% of the words are the same (and in same order). It is funny, so it can be considered a parody, but it is for commercial use also.
Thank you,
A: From your description, what you want to do is a derivative work, and thus it is copyright infringement. You do have a fair use argument, but as you suspect, using your derivative work as advertising weighs against you in a fair use analysis. Safest thing to do is to get permission from the copyright holder. People commonly do this sort of thing without permission and hope not to get sued - sometimes it works out, sometimes not.
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