Briffa and IVCA Legal Seminar
Seminar Held At The Briffa Offices - July 2008
Alex Papakyriacou
I would like to thank all those who attended the talk at Briffa on 7 July 2008. I enjoyed giving the talk and answering the many interesting questions that were posed by those who attended. I hope that all who were present found the talk useful; I certainly learned a lot regarding the current legal issues and concerns of IVCA members.
One of the main issues raised in the questions I was posed was the extent to which ownership of rights in corporate films can be retained by the film production companies. Although the default position under the Copyright Designs and Patents Act is that the rights in films are owned jointly by the director and producer (or, if they are employees, their employer), it is often the case in relation to corporate films that rights in such films are assigned to the client.
As with most issues of this nature, there is no industry standard. Rights ownership will depend on your bargaining position, and the extent to which your client may be able to procure films from your rivals at similar or lower prices with the rights being assigned. Of course, if you are able to show that you are the best, most reputable production company for producing this type of work, it will be easier to negotiate the retention of rights from your client. However, where the client has significant bargaining power and where the commercial necessity of procuring the work outweighs the production company’s wishes relating to rights ownership, it may be a case of simply biting the bullet and accepting that the client will own the rights. You may, however, be able to preserve some rights, including the right to a credit and the right to object to the film being re-cut, by asserting your moral rights.
Another issue that arose during the talk and which has been a live issue in calls I have taken from IVCA members relates to the use of images taken from the Internet. Unless you have a licence in place to use an image, there is a strong risk that its use will constitute copyright infringement, even if the image is available on the Internet. Further, where you are using images obtained from picture libraries, you need to be careful to ensure that the licence allows the type of use required by your client.
As ever, Briffa is happy to continue to provide initial advice through the IVCA helpline. We are also on hand to provide more comprehensive support at our competitive rates. We also look forward to welcoming IVCA and its members to our next IVCA talk on Tuesday 11th November, which will focus on music clearance for films.
