Media Law, Copyright and Releases
Media law for image makers in Canada: the five bodies of law around a work, copyright in photographs and films with the life plus 70 term, ownership, commissioned photographs since 2012 and assignments, infringement, statutory damages and notice-and-notice, fair dealing and moral rights waivers, clearing music, art, trademarks and archive footage, privacy and personality rights from Aubry to Jones v Tsige, defamation and responsible communication, one-party consent recording and filming in public, model, property and location releases, options, life rights and the chain of title, AI, digital replicas and platforms, and a capstone documentary clearance plan.
FILM-420 Year 4 3 credits 12 lessons · 5 h 17 min
Offered by HSM University · Visual Media Foundations
This is the Canadian version of this course. See the American version.
What you'll learn
- Identify the copyright, trademark, privacy, personality, defamation and contract issues in a photograph, film or podcast, and distinguish rights in from rights out.
- Determine whether a work is protected by copyright, how long protection lasts and whether it has entered the public domain, using the rules of the relevant country.
- Decide who owns a work created by employees, freelancers, commissioned contractors and collaborators, and use assignments and licences correctly.
- Explain how infringement is proved, compare the remedies and small-claims options available, and respond to demand letters and online notices.
- Apply fair dealing or fair use and the other exceptions to clips, quotations, parodies and incidental appearances, and explain moral rights and their waiver.
- Clear music, artwork, trademarks, archive footage and stills, distinguishing synchronization and master rights and maintaining a clearance log.
- Assess privacy and personality or publicity risks when photographing, filming and publishing images of people, including public figures and children.
- Reduce defamation risk in documentary and drama, and apply the rules on filming in public, recording conversations and hidden cameras.
- Draft and manage model, appearance and property releases, location agreements and crowd notices suited to each use and jurisdiction.
- Read and negotiate the key clauses of option, life rights, contributor and licence agreements, and assemble a complete chain of title.
- Explain the current law on copyright in AI-assisted work, AI training, digital replicas and platform terms, and manage the related risks in contracts.
- Prepare a rights inventory, risk rating, clearance plan, budget and delivery package for a documentary or photography project.
Course content
12 lessons · 5 h 17 min total · final exam
- 1 How media law protects and constrains image makers 28 min · quiz
- 2 Copyright in photographs and films 28 min · quiz
- 3 Ownership, authorship and transfers 27 min · quiz
- 4 Infringement, remedies and enforcement online 25 min · quiz
- 5 Fair dealing and moral rights 27 min · quiz
- 6 Clearances: music, artwork, trademarks and footage 26 min · quiz
- 7 Privacy and personality rights 26 min · quiz
- 8 Defamation, filming in public and recording 26 min · quiz
- 9 Model, property and location releases 25 min · quiz
- 10 Contracts and licensing agreements 29 min · quiz
- 11 Rights in the age of AI, digital replicas and platforms 25 min · quiz
- 12 Capstone: clearing and contracting a documentary project 25 min · quiz
- E Final exam 20 questions
Description
Media law for image makers in Canada: the five bodies of law around a work, copyright in photographs and films with the life plus 70 term, ownership, commissioned photographs since 2012 and assignments, infringement, statutory damages and notice-and-notice, fair dealing and moral rights waivers, clearing music, art, trademarks and archive footage, privacy and personality rights from Aubry to Jones v Tsige, defamation and responsible communication, one-party consent recording and filming in public, model, property and location releases, options, life rights and the chain of title, AI, digital replicas and platforms, and a capstone documentary clearance plan.
Part of the Film & Photography stream, typically taken in year 4.