Legalities of Using "Alexa", an Amazon Product

    As per my last posting, I mentioned that finding a radio will be a difficult prop considering the limited areas surrounding me selling anything similar to what I need, and the fact that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I cannot leave my home to shop for anything non-essential. That said, I did some research on using any Amazon product within a production, specifically their product "Alexa". What I found leads me to believe that it is best to stray from using this product from my film opening, both for legal and artistic direction reasons. When I went into Amazon's website, and on the Help: Conditions of Use page, it doesn't say much except for within the copyright section in which it states: "All content included in or made available through any Amazon Service, such as text, graphics, logos, button icons, images, audio clips, digital downloads, data compilations, and software is the property of Amazon or its content suppliers and protected by United States and international copyright laws. The compilation of all content included in or made available through any Amazon Service is the exclusive property of Amazon and protected by U.S. and international copyright laws."

With the most obvious point in mind, Alexa is an Amazon product and since it would be seen right in the beginning of the opening, it would be under the images portion of the copyright law. Not only this, but when brainstorming how I want those first few scenes to pop up, an Alexa device just doesn't fit artistically the way I envision it. As for the sound part, anything that is asked of Alexa she repeats back to you, which would have to be heard in the film opening, making it under the audio portion of the copyright law.

  After researching this, I came to the conclusion that it's best to be safe rather than sorry when it comes to the legal portion of this piece and decided not to use Alexa. However, artistically I don't agree with that statement at all. That is why since I won't be able to purchase an old radio of any sort, I am going to gather a bunch of cardboard, a carving knife, look up pictures of what I want it to look like as well as watching tutorials and looking up pictorials on how to make one, and then I will finally paint it, all of which I will be documenting on a vlog and posting within the following week. I have plenty of time to do so now that I am under self quarantine. It'll be my first time ever doing anything of the sort but it is ultimately the best option, and risks are important to take within art. It will also help show just how dedicated I am to taking this project seriously. Therefore, I will be attaching a tutorial and/or pictorial in my next posting with the supplies list I need and the steps.