Last February 10th, the World Cinema Day was celebrated, this is an annual holiday that commemorates the passion and connection of the people with this art form. This holiday was recently established (in 2020) by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to be held on the second Saturday of February every year, following the 92nd Oscar Awards Ceremony in that year.
Cinema, or the “seventh art” is a whole and highly relevant industry due to its cultural role in the whole world. This is a form of entertainment, which, in modern terms, implies the fixation in an audiovisual work of a complex piece that combines human creativity with different areas of technical knowledge in order to generate a feeling in the spectator, and which results in one of the figures protected by Copyright Law.
Cinema comprises an accumulation of disciplines that when put together end up being a piece composed of other arts, such as photography, music, literary or dramatic writing, among others, with a variety of genres and formats for all tastes and ages, and above all, which are subject to legal protection.
Along with the creation of a cinematographic work, there are a series of activities involved, such as script writing, auditions, set assembly, video and audio recordings, direction, pre-production, production and post-production, distribution, advertising, etc., which necessarily result in the need to observe several legal aspects in order to carry out the creative work.
The legal activities related to a cinematographic work are well varied and are usually listed in a “Clearance“, which has the purpose of avoiding obstacles such as lawsuits or legal or contractual breaches during the creation of an audiovisual work, it also operates as a “Due Diligence”, where the legal compliance status of all the elements of the work or film can be observed.
In a Clearance we usually observe aspects such as: labor, advertising, confidentiality, image use contracts, permits from authorities to record monuments and public places, commissioned works for music, licenses to use other works, leasing of goods and locations, etc.
Considering the above, it is important to have specialized legal counselling on copyright matters for the creation of cinematographic or audiovisual works, observing legal compliance at all times. In VAHG we provide support to carry out “Clearances” and advice on the protection of the creative creations of our clients in terms of audiovisual and other works. In case you are interested in receiving assistance in this area, please contact our Team or one of our Lawyers mentioned below:
| Mariana González Sánchez | Partner
Intellectual Property +52 (33) 38171731 Ext 222 | mgonzalez@vahg.mx |
Martín Arias Cuevas | Associate
Intellectual Property +52 (33) 38171731 Ext. 236 | ariascuevas@vahg.mx |
**The publication of this document does not constitute legal, accounting or professional advice of any kind, nor is it intended to be applicable to particular cases. This document only refers to laws applicable in Mexico.