Rian Johnson: Apple Bans Bad Guys from Using iPhones in Movies

Im assuming its more of a pay to be featured with an asterisk than a legal thing.

I'm not sure how true it is but I always heard Apple was very outspoken about how they never payed for product placement. What they would do was give away just about any Apple product to just about any production. And especially more than a few years ago Apple had some of the more photogenic devices so studio went with them for onscreen usage. You'll see them listed in lots of show credits as "hardware provided" or similar.

If this is true I bet that it was a condition of the giveaway relationship Apple has with studios.

I am not a lawyer.

Maybe Apple sues them for something like slander / liable (bad guys use X product) or misuse of Copyright?

Though I don't agree the above should be ethically possible; they're the ones that put that logo on everything. Similarly I don't think buildings or statues in public view should be copyright. They've been placed on display in public.

I know the concept is a little foreign to the crowd on hacker news, but quite a lot of the world runs on building up relationships rather than on laws or software. Apple enforces this sort of thing because film makers most likely don't want a bad relationship with Apple.

Apple can enforce this, because what Rian Johnson was talking about is product placement. Rian was annoyed he couldnt give iphone to a baddie and still be paid for it.

Are you working on an autobiographical script?

Don't use iPhones and problem is solved