Well, you know, I like to say that IP is everywhere.
Well, the corollary to that is that IP trouble can be
everywhere if you aren't careful.
So this issue came to mind during a Q and a session that I had last week with
a great organization that I recommend the Institute for Management Consultants.
And we had a wonderful conversation and as.
Often happens, all manner of IP related stories come up and one came up regarding
a parent who wanted to record a school play and post it on the internet.
Now, generally I try to avoid, comment about IP issues that aren't in my niche.
There are many, and I don't like to dabble.
And so I like to stay in my lane of helping experts turn their expertise
into intellectual property assets.
But I thought in this case I could reach back into my old life as
a film lawyer and give it a go.
So those of you who may not know, I used to be at Warner Brothers and what is now
Lionsgate and I used to do clearances for the content that went into films.
And I also thought I would throw my marketing consultant a bone
because she's been encouraging me to cover more pop culture topics.
And I am not a pop culture girl, but I figured, you know, this is the closest
I can get, especially since I do have a recent example to fall back on.
Since this weekend, I went to see the high school play of one of my son's friends.
Who was in Grease and so let's use Grease as an example to talk through
the IP issues that come up when we are, recording high school plays
and putting them on the internet.
So here is the trouble you can get in the context of IP is everywhere,
including all over high school plays.
So there are the copyright issues involved with the script, as you do the script.
know plays are eligible for copyright protection and almost all plays
are still going to be eligible.
I should say, Shakespeare, not eligible for copyright protection anymore that
is now in the public domain, but any plays that are contemporary that have
been written in the last, let's just use 95 years as a easy thing to remember.
Assume that it is.
Still protected by copyright and that you need permissions.
So the playwright or whoever the playwright may have sold or,
bequeathed their rights to, would still own those exclusive rights
they have under copyright to perform it, to record it, to distribute it.
And so you would not have permission to record it and distribute it
without having a license from the copyright owner of the script.
In addition, there are script adaptations generally for high school plays, so, being
able to create a derivative is also one of the exclusive rights of copyright owners.
And so the derivative work would be eligible for copyright protection,
assuming The derivative has permission from the original owner.
The derivative, work would also have copyright protection and most, if not
all, school plays have been adapted in some ways, because there are minors
involved sometimes for time, this particular performance of Greece, As
someone who has watched it many times, both the movie and the original Broadway
play, was disappointed to hear that the audience does not know that Sandy
won't go to bed until she's legally wed.
and neither did they ever find out about Rizzo's bun in the oven.
So it was a pretty sanitized version for a high school play, frankly.
in any case, we still enjoyed it very much.
So that's Derivative screen adaptation also has copyright protection and
so while the schools may have some sort of license to put it online.
that certainly would not translate to you.
Although I think that even the schools probably don't have the right to put
those online, but I don't get into that.
So that's just my assumption there.
So what are some of the music clearance issues?
So I don't come across music clearance issues very much at all in working
with experts with corporate clients.
but they can come up.
Music clearance issues are a little more complicated than the script
because you have the song itself.
So the song the lyrics, then you have a recording.
If someone has recorded it, the master, and then the ability to exploit that
in connection with a movie or a play.
So that's.
synchronization rights.
So there's several levels of rights involved with music, which is honestly
why I don't touch them even in film.
there are whole departments that deal with music clearances, and films,
but of course, at the end of the day, music is protected by copyright and so,
we've probably heard about compulsory licenses where, I can create a cover
of, my favorite song and I can record it and I can distribute it and I do
have to pay compulsory license fees, but I don't have to get permission
from the artist to record my own cover.
I do need permission to use their recording, but I don't
need it to use my recording.
But that does not apply for when we are incorporating or synchronizing
a song with a film or place.
That's a whole nother level of permissions that you need.
And so we do need to, again, get permission if we're
going to put on distribute a recording of music with a video.
So, um, All right, so what about the personal appearances?
So we need to obtain the consent to distribute somebody else's image.
So we have, as each of us has a right of publicity and so that we have the right
to control the uses of the person's image.
Of our name, our image and our likeness, our voice.
And so we need to have permission to record someone and put them on YouTube.
So do you have permission to record those performers, not just the performers, but.
Anyone who's in the audience who may get caught in there as well.
So the people in the audience have privacy rights.
Maybe nobody knows that they went out, to go see Greece that night and they
don't want their attendance recorded.
So we need to make sure we have permission from every.
Person who appears in that recording as well, distribution rights, you know, if
you're going to put it on YouTube, you know, YouTube's terms of use will say
like you promise not to upload anything that you don't have the rights to.
And so if you do upload something that you don't have the rights
to not only do you have.
Copyright infringement issues, both with the playwright and the music involved.
And you have, right of publicity and privacy, right issues, but you also have
contract breach issues with the platform.
If you're uploading of that, recording is not in compliance with
the terms of use of the platform.
and then artwork, The sets typically are created by the crew in the case of this
high school play, they brought up some parents who helped create those sets.
And so where did the sets come from?
Is it original?
Or did they copy it from something they found online?
Because they weren't worried about copyright infringement or go up on their
stage for four days, or is it something that they got from the original play?
You know, I don't know.
but I can tell you that it's not in the public domain and that you
don't have the right to, make copies and distribute those set designs.
And that doesn't even get into just specifically to the school play all
the school policy and statutes that involve protection of children.
So that would be another issue.
So, you know, I didn't create this to, like, scare you, and make you too
terrified to record little Johnny's, debut performance and put it on Facebook.
we've all.
Done it.
but really just to illustrate the point that IP is everywhere and that we really
do need to be mindful of where are getting content and how we are using it and to
make sure that we have permissions for it.
So to bring it back to our use in our business, maybe we saw
Something on YouTube, that we think would be interesting and
want to share with our audiences.
Maybe we, consumed a module of a course, and we think it would be great.
We talk about, using other people's content and when it is recorded
content, then we have all these that.
I mean, video content.
We have all these additional issues to think about making sure, if it as at a Ted
talk, for instance, making sure we have the consent, whoever owns that recording,
making sure we have consent of all the people who appear in that courting.
If there's, some music introducing the speaker.
Or that's, part of the intro or the outro having rights to use that music.
for uploading it to some sort of platform that we aren't,
breaching those terms of use.
So, hopefully I didn't scare you to death, but I do want to make sure
that you are aware that we do have to have permission to use content.
That we don't own, we have to get permissions for that.
So, hope you enjoyed this.
let me know if you have any questions.
You can always find me on LinkedIn or at think beyond IP
and don't forget IP is fuel.