Polar Express public layouts while avoiding copyright infringement

If there is no admission charge and you are just an individual creating a display, not a business, it almost certainly comes under the "fair use" doctrine.  You're fine.

If there is a commercial entity involved in the display, or an admission fee, you would potentially be violating the copyright and need, strictly speaking, the copyright owner's permission.  That said, anything that is "small time" and not a long term use is unlikely to come to the attention of the copyright holder(s).

If you are running the train on a layout, there is no issue.  If you design a layout and theme it off the movie, there is no protection under the fair use doctrine. leave the sound track out of your layout and any video or replay of the movie.  As for running the PE on a Christmas themed layout, I am not sure where that is an issue.  It really does not matter if it is free or paid admission, leave the sound track, and movie out of the layout and stick with a Christmas theme.

Youtube has already pretty much shown how it works.  No fair use period, you get ads overlaid on your video if you use commercially produced music or your videos get pulled.  They don't care if you are a church, individual or non commercial entity.  The big difference is if you are a commercial entity the lawyers are going to come knocking much quicker.

YouTube by definition is a commercial, for profit entity, so there is obviously no fair use of copyright materials.  Putting a video on YouTube of your own Polar Express Lionel train running under your Christmas tree is highly unlikely to bring the copyright hounds down upon you, as stated.  Incorporating actual footage from the film in your YouTube video would not be considered fair use.  In general, anything that is considered mass media and commercial (like YouTube) is going to receive more scrutiny than what you do in your town hall atrium, obviously.

A public display in a bank, church or mall, with the Polar Express movie playing on a portable screen, with no admission charge, no payment to the layout displayer, perhaps with images of the movie on billboards, is likely to be considered fair use, assuming anyone would bother to care.  So if that's what you have in mind, I wouldn't be concerned about the ethics or legality.   The worst that could happen is they'll tell you to stop, since you are making no profit and causing no financial harm. If you are really concerned about this, you'll have to consult an intellectual property attorney, and that will likely not be free.  Or you could just email the owner of the copyright and explicitly ask them what they will allow (not much probably).  Hope that helps.

I would not run the actual movie or use the soundtrack as part of the display (you will see the copyright notice in the leader of that and any other film or video), but anything else, such as signs, trains, accessories, etc., would likely be perfectly fine.  Nobody is going to care in any case.  The more exposure the Polar Express gets, the better for those who reap the profits, be it from the movie, the book, or even the toy trains.

The event  is so small doubt anyone would notice but to be legal no playing the movie or soundtrack. I would not use the term Polar Express either, ask the various tourist RR's how that went. Even those who were using the name Polar Express before the movie came out had to license the name or get sued.

As for anyone trying to claiming its Fair Use, don't take internet advice, it's a widely misunderstood concept. Get guidance from a copyright lawyer if you are that concerned about it.

Better be careful, Doc!  (WB has the rights to PE, and of course our favorite out of season rabbit!)

I do not know much about Copy Right Laws.  However, if it is the mouse, have a couple of good lawyers ready.  WB is nothing to mess with as stated above, but the mouse has a long history of protecting its Copy Right.

Many thanks,

Billy C