Sunday, July 28, 2013

A Couple Concerning Legal Issues...


Looking towards NuProdigy Media’s business plan, I see many cases that could come about just with our day-to-day normal projects for our clients. There is a lot to look out for when it comes to creating any visual media especially when it’s for profit. Listening to a couple podcasts on Entertainment Law Update (.com) I found out a couple things that could help me out in the future. Gordon Firemark is the host of the show, along with being a lawyer; he gives his legal opinion on various cases.
            Listening to “Episode 36 – Faulkner, Einstein, Superman and Talent Managers” they go through a case talking about an author of the book called “The Match” by the name of Mark Frost. Frost was negotiating an offer with a production company to make a movie adaptation from the book to a movie. During the negotiation the representative from the production company asked about the rights and about forwarding them over to him so that he could start to receive funding for the film. Frost’s lawyer then replied with “Done, Thanks” and the representative from the defense started to proceed with using content from the protected book for his prospectus for the film pitches. In the actual case it stated that Frost’s attorney never had actual authority to transfer the rights over to anyone, and that if the rights were to be transferred it had to be in writing, which of course was never done. Gordon Firemark explained that the should be some type of power of attorney that would and should have been in writing if Frost’s lawyer really did have the authority to transfer the copyright over, being backed by the equal dignity rule. Also not having the transfer be in writing was mess-up number two. Firemark also stated that any deals you make especially when it comes to Intellectual Property you should always have it in writing, and not making the determination from the comment “Done, Thanks”.
            There was another case discussed on “Episode 40 – Areo, ReDigi, Veoh & IMDB”. An art collector bought about 8 photographic works from a photographer. The collector bought them as a limited edition being that they were printed on die transfer prints. Changed the size, medium, production date and other things to make sure that no one would mistake them for the limited edition set. The collector also sold them at a show making profits from those reprints. The photographer argued that the monetary value of the limited edition was diminished because of the making of the reprints. The court dismissed all cases from fraudulent misrepresentation, negligent misrepresentation, unjust enrichment, to promissory estoppel, stating that even though both works come from the same photograph; both works are markedly different from one another. He used a different digital process, in all creating a new piece of work. Firemark stating that them being in different jurisdictions could have caused some confusion. Stating that the case might have gotten a different opinion in New York courts than in Memphis.
            All these issues affect NuProdigy Media and I because most of our media that we create will be reproductions of someone else work, like taking a logo and including it into a commercial. Although that client will approve of the use before distribution, we still need to make sure that the rights are transferred in all correct ways including contract in writing. So many things can go wrong but if you have the proper guidance and knowledge you should be fine.

Friday, July 12, 2013

Court vs. Entertainment


The entertainment industry is almost amazing when it comes to how things are done and how much work goes into one project not even thinking about how many people it takes to get some things done in a timely fashion. At the same time in the entertainment industry it is that quick to find yourself in harm way when it comes to legal issues. There’s so many ways to end up in court; just simply creating a piece of artwork and posting on a social media is not that safe anymore.
Looking at three cases that could impact my company really helped in showing me that I always need to double check things, ask questions, and have all contracts written correctly. The first case I looked at was the fact that the Subway footlong subs aren’t really a foot long. They have had many claims against them saying that the footlong is really only eleven inches verses twelve inches, and being fraudulent and deceptive to the public. Which the footlong represents $142M of there sales. This specific case showed me that when it comes to advertising, being creative could really hurt you. Calling one thing something that it is to make revenue will always bite you in the end. Me being right in the middle of creating advertisement I may want to help lookover for things like that in scripts and props, just to better help the client.
The second case that I did a little research on was that TV Networks filed legal claims saying that skipping commercials is copyright infringement. Mainly focusing on the DISH subscribers with the Hopper feature are recording television show and skipping the commercials when they later view the recording. To be honest me personally, I don’t see why even start a case on this subject matter. It’s the same thing as purchasing a DVR and doing the same thing recording your favorite TV shows then when you later watch them you skip the advertisements, many consumers want to watch a show for the show and not the three to four minutes of ads. Reading over this case was a little comedic because there is really no real argument.
There was an company called Areo starting in New York, which provided live cable television to online members and also provided a DVR service, that allowed them to record for later viewing. NBC and some other local stations sued Areo, claiming that the retransmissions of their signals were copyright infringement on public performances of copyrighted work. This shows me that there is always better things that come up, new ways of doing things and if you want to move for ward with the big guys you have to be ready. I should be able to provide services for those online ad holders and move forward with the new generation.
There are legal issues when it comes to any industry or any topic, but as an entrepreneur you have to know what you’re stepping into, and do the research.