Unit 1, Task 5- Legalisation and the creative industries

 Intellectual property is a creation of the mind such as music, literacy, artwork, designs, symbols and names. IP rights includes copyrights, patents, trademarks and trade secrets which protect designs, symbols, names and images used in commerce. These enable people to receive financial benefit or recognition for their what they have created, allowing creativity and innovation to flourish.

Copyright is used to protect a creator’s intellectual property from use without permission. It is used when original and skilled work is qualified for protection, protecting the work and stopping others from using it without the owner’s permission. Copyright is often used in the creative industry in music, art and logos to protect people’s creative rights and give recognition to creators. Creators have ownership of their word and can then use, sell or license it to a third party.

Trademarks are unique symbols or words used by a business to represent and identify them or their product. When registered as a trademark, the symbol or words can never be used by other organisations as long as its in use and paperwork/ fees are complete.

Talent releases are usually used with actors or models working on film, video, still photography or in voice recordings. This is a legal release form for the actor to agree to their voice, appearance or talent to be used in the content that they are appearing in. These prevent a creator from getting sued for unauthorized use of someone’s talent/ image/ voice. Other names include model release, actor release or film talent release.

Location releases are like talent releases, providing permission for a location to be used in your content. These forms outline when the location will be used, for how long, insurance agreement and an acknowledgement of liability. This makes it clear to the location owner and the production company on the legal agreement and use of location.

In the UK, people have freedom to photograph or film in public spaces without a permit, and police have no power to stop them recording or filming unless police suspect them to be a terrorist. These photos cannot be considered to be indecent either. Some places considered to be ‘public’ are under private control, such as shopping centres, car parks and some parks. This is where legal problems with filming/ photography may arise.

Performing in public spaces, such as busking, is legal unless the performer is obstructing or creating a nuisance. From the GOV.uk website: 

‘You usually need to get a licence if you:

• play recorded music in public or at your business (including background music on a CD, radio or music channel)

• stage live music events in public (for example, a concert or festival)

• play live or recorded music in a theatre

• use sound recordings in a theatrical production (including on-stage and off-stage effects)

The licence you need is called ‘TheMusicLicence’.’

Child labour laws are different for the creative industries due to the minimum working age of 13 not applying to children working in television, theatre or modelling. Children under school leaving age working in these creative sectors need a performance license.

Public liability insurance is used by a business to cover them if a member of the public claims to be injured or have their property damaged because of the business. A policy will cover the cost of any compensation or expenses caused by legal proceedings and claims made by clients, contractors or member of the public.

GDPR stands for General Data Protection Regulation and is the toughest privacy and security law in the world, from the European Union. It controls how we store, control and process people’s personal data. Businesses are required to understand what GDPR means and apply this to clients information which is stored in their organisation. Organisations must become GDPR compliant to avoid ICO fines and 2grand clients with the right to demand their information be destroyed/ accessed.

The Competition Act 1998. From the GOV.uk website: ‘prohibits any agreement, business practice or conduct which has, or could have, a damaging effect on competition in the United Kingdom. This includes abuse by a company which uses its dominant position in a way that harms competition’.

Anticompetitive practises include businesses who restrict inter-firm competition to increase their profits or market position, without providing better services or services at a lower cost.

The Enterprise Act 2002. From DELTA-NET.COM: ‘The Enterprise Act 2002 was established with the purpose of tightening control on competition law and ensuring that those organisations which do conduct anti-competitive activity are penalised.’