Authors rights when creating videos
Creating video content - not just a tech with the cue process. It also includes the creative part. That is why the video belongs to the objects of copyright, and its creators acquire copyright. You can read about which rights arise in our article.
Contents
Who is the author of the video ?
Since video content is a combination of several elements, the law protects the rights of every author who participated in the creation of the video. These include:
- Stage director;
- Screenwriter ;
- The composer who wrote the music for the video (the presence of the text does not affect).
What are the rights of the author ?
Copyright is a generalized category. It includes specific rights belonging to authors of works of science, literature and art. It is in this category that the video belongs.
Although in practice the courts usually speak of copyright infringement without highlighting specific ones, the Code classifies the following rights as copyright:
- Copyright
- Author's right to a name
- The right to inviolability of a work
- The right to publish a work
- Exclusive right.
The most interesting is the exclusive right, since the owner of this right determines the limits of the use of the audiovisual work. Based on this, it is worth distinguishing between authors and copyright holders, and, as a rule, we are talking about copyright holders.
Who owns the exclusive right?
To answer this question, it's worth going back to the video property, namely layering. There are always several elements in a video. When answering the question who owns the rights, two groups can be distinguished: the elements included in the video and the video itself.
When creating a video and posting it, you need to remember about the copyright of the creators of objects that were not already created for your video. For example, a music composer. The next group is the authors of objects created for a specific video. For example, a cinematographer or production designer. They are the authors of these objects and the copyright holders. Therefore, to use these objects, you need to conclude contracts for the alienation of the exclusive rights or license. How to use other people's scripts and other people's music can be found in other articles prepared by our lawyers.
Now we should consider the audiovisual work. The authors include three persons (director, screenwriter, composer). The authors don’t have exclusive rights. Manufacturer, producer have those rights. Producer takes the initiative to create the video and he is responsible. He is not an author and has an independent status. However, the producer also has certain restrictions: he does not have rights to other elements included in audiovisual works. The producer may acquire the rights to them by the contract m the authors. You can read about what is better to make in the contract with the producer in our other article.
Why copyright?
These rights determine how others can view or use your content. These rights give authors some protection. A video posted on YouTube does not lead to the free use of this video (Art. 1270). The use of even a few seconds of video content is a violation of copyright (clause 81 of the Resolution of the Plenum of 04/23/2019 No. 10).
By disposing of the exclusive right, the author determines how his video can be used. If the contract specified the transfer of the video for playback as a whole, and the person placed a still frame on the cover of the magazine, then copyright is also subject to protection (А40-146476 / 2016).
Although the producer has the exclusive right, the authors retain moral rights. This is why it is important to know exactly what copyrights include. The copyright holder will still not be able to infringe on your authorship. The authors of musical works may receive compensation for public e execution of th video.
Сonclusion:
Due to its complexity, an audiovisual work can contain a large number of objects within itself, so you need to remember about the rights of each of the authors. When creating the video itself, it is important to obtain an exclusive right so that the use of the elements is lawful. In case of copyright infringement, both non-proprietary and exclusive, you can limit the illegal use of your video content. If you have any questions or you need help, please contact the lawyers of A 4 Law Firm.
QUESTIONS?