Media Law, Copyright and Releases
Media law for image makers in the United States: the five bodies of law around a work, copyright terms and registration, ownership, works made for hire and assignments, infringement, statutory damages, the Copyright Claims Board and DMCA takedowns, fair use after Warhol and licensing, clearing music, art, trademarks and archive footage, privacy torts and the right of publicity, defamation and actual malice, recording consent laws 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 15 min
Offered by HSM University · Visual Media Foundations
This is the American version of this course. See the Canadian 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 licenses 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 license 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 15 min total · final exam
- 1 How media law protects and constrains image makers 28 min · quiz
- 2 Copyright and registration 28 min · quiz
- 3 Ownership, authorship and transfers 27 min · quiz
- 4 Infringement, remedies and enforcement online 25 min · quiz
- 5 Fair use and licensing 27 min · quiz
- 6 Clearances: music, artwork, trademarks and footage 26 min · quiz
- 7 Privacy and the right of publicity 25 min · quiz
- 8 Defamation, filming in public and recording 25 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 the United States: the five bodies of law around a work, copyright terms and registration, ownership, works made for hire and assignments, infringement, statutory damages, the Copyright Claims Board and DMCA takedowns, fair use after Warhol and licensing, clearing music, art, trademarks and archive footage, privacy torts and the right of publicity, defamation and actual malice, recording consent laws 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.