While the monotonous lives of the characters in Black Mirror: Fifteen Million Merits presents few opportunities to practice creativity and individuality, the performance competition show lends itself to intellectual property debates [1]. 

At the cost of fifteen million merits, earned from the endless peddling of stationary bicycles, anyone can purchase an entree ticket for the performance based competition show Hot Shot. Contestants perform their talents in front of three judges, as well as an audience of the avatars of those watching the streamed show. 

Hot Shot relies on the creative expressions of the contestant. Consequently, questions of intellectual property rights arise as one of the protagonists, Abi, sings an original song [2]. 

While it is unclear if this dystopian world is the United States, for the purpose of analyzing intellectual property rights, we will look at U.S. copyright laws.

Under U.S. copyright laws, the original work inherently belongs to Abi, granting her the right to reproduce, distribute, perform, and monetize her song. However, because she performed her song on Hot Shot, she may have sacrificed some of these rights. 

Hot Shot is a clear parody of current entertainment competitions, such as American Idol, The Voice, and America’s Got Talent. While the terms and agreements between Hot Shot and the contestants is not explicitly stated, comparing the property rights to the contestant of Hot Shot to those of America’s Got Talent contestants, we can analyze the legality of the dystopian talent show. 

After her performance on Hot Shot, edited clips of Abi’s performance are broadcasted across various streaming platforms, using her work to advertise the show as well as other programs on the network [3]. While the song is Abi’s, giving her the right to determine where, when, and how her work is distributed, she also gives Hot Shot the rights to her performance by entering as a contestant. The terms of use outlined by America’s Got Talent explicitly states that while the contestant has the rights to their work, “by submitting the User Content, you[contestants] hereby grant to FMNA/Syco, in perpetuity, a non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicensable and freely transferable license to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display, adapt, reformat, translate, and otherwise exploit and perform all or any portion of the User Content for any purpose whatsoever, throughout the universe” [4]. As a result, clips of a performance can be edited and distributed across platforms to promote the show. 

Assuming a similar contract exists on Hot Shot, it is completely legal to use footage of Abi’s performance in advertisements.