Fact Sheet

Dylan Massey Unit 1

Legal and Ethical

Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

The law gives the creators of literary, dramatic, musical, artistic works, sound recordings, broadcasts,
films and typographical arrangement of published editions, rights to control the ways in which their
material may be used.

The rights cover: broadcast and public performance, copying, adapting, issuing, renting and lending
copies to the public.

This is a CIVIL law not a CRIMINAL law.

This means it is not a criminal offence to break the law, which could result in a fine or jail sentence.

Instead, the person who owns the copyright has to sue the person they believe has broken the law.
The case is then heard in a civil court and if the person is found guilty of breaking copyright law then
they will have to pay damages to the owner of the copyright. The amount of damages is set by the
court.

 
Types of work protected
Literary  
Song lyrics, manuscripts, manuals, computer programs, commercial documents, leaflets, newsletters
and articles etc.
Dramatic  
Plays, dance etc.
Musical  
Recordings and score.
Artistic  
Photography, painting, sculptures, architecture, technical drawings/diagrams, maps, logos.
Typographical arrangement of published editions
Magazines, periodicals, etc.
Sound recording
May be recordings of other copyright works, e.g. musical and literary.
Film  
Video footage, films, broadcasts and cable programmes.
The Copyright (Computer Programs) Regulations 1992 extended the rules covering literary works to
include computer programs.

Duration of copyright
For literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works: 70 years from the end of the calendar year in which
the last remaining author of the work dies.
If the author is unknown, copyright will last for 70 years from end of the calendar year in which the
work was created, although if it is made available to the public during that time, by publication,
authorised performance, broadcast, exhibition etc, then the duration will be 70 years from the end of
the year that the work was first made available.
Sound Recordings: 50 years from the end of the calendar year in which the work was created or, if
the work is released within that time, 70 years from the end of the calendar year in which the work
was first released.
Films: 70 years from the end of the calendar year in which the last principal director, author or
composer dies.
If the work is of unknown authorship: 70 years from end of the calendar year of creation, or if made
available to the public in that time, 70 years from the end of the year the film was first made
available.
Typographical arrangement of published editions: 25 years from the end of the calendar year in
which the work was first published.
Broadcasts and cable programmes: 50 years from the end of the calendar year in which the
broadcast was made.

Application
This law means that you cannot use or take credit for other people's work for something without
their consent. This is so other people don’t receive credit or money for another person's work. This
law allows people whose work was copied receive the money that the other person earned back if
they sue them in civil court.

For magazines this could mean they could break the law by using another magazine company's
images, articles or logo. Also the magazine producers have to make sure that the magazine doesn’t
contain images, text or logos that are protected under copyright without permission. This would
apply to Empire magazine because there are a lot of images from films which are copy written so
they would need permission from the company that made the film. All written content must also be
original too and the promotions such as the film posters would have to be the one that were given to
them by film companies and to ones that other film magazines have used

Equality Act 2010

This law legally protects people from discrimination in the workplace and in wider society.
It is against the law to discriminate against anyone because of:
⮚ Age

⮚ Being or becoming a transsexual person

⮚ Being married or in a civil partnership

⮚ Being pregnant or on maternity leave

⮚ Disability

⮚ Race including colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin

⮚ Religion/belief or lack of religion/belief

⮚ Sex

⮚ Sexual orientation
This is a CRIMINAL law.
Therefore anyone who is considered to be breaking the law could be arrested. It would result in a
criminal trial which if found guilty could result in a fine or jail sentence.

Application
This law means you cannot use offensive, discriminatory or disrespectful comments regarding age,
being or becoming a transsexual person, being married or in a civil partnership, being pregnant or on
maternity leave, disability, race including colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, Religion/belief
or lack of religion/belief, sex, sexual orientation. This is because they could be arrested and it would
result in a criminal trial which if found guilty could result in a fine or jail sentence.

For magazine companies they would have to avoid putting things in the article that could be deemed
racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, ablist etc. The magazine's producers also have to make sure
that the magazines don’t contain any offensive material in the articles and images. This would apply
to Empire magazine because they will not want to use discriminatory images or text in the magazine
such as being negative about an actor because of their religion or making sexist remarks about a film
with a female lead. To avoid breaking this law editors of the magazine would have to make sure that
no articles or images contain any discriminatory or disrespectful comments regarding age, being or
becoming a transsexual person, being married or in a civil partnership, being pregnant or on
maternity leave, disability, race including colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, Religion/belief
or lack of religion/belief, sex, sexual orientation.

Intellectual property
What intellectual property is
Having the right type of intellectual property protection helps you to stop people stealing or copying:
⮚ the names of your products or brands

⮚ your inventions

⮚ the design or look of your products

⮚ things you write, make or produce

Copyright, patents, designs and trademarks are all types of intellectual property protection. You get
some types of protection automatically, others you have to apply for.

You own intellectual property if you:

⮚ created it (and it meets the requirements for copyright, a patent or a design

⮚ bought intellectual property rights from the creator or a previous owner

⮚ have a brand that could be a trade mark e.g. a well known product name

If you believe anyone has stolen or copied your property you would sue them in civil court.

Types of protection
The type of protection you can get depends on what you’ve created. You get some types of
protection automatically, others you have to apply for.
 Automatic protection

Protection you have to apply for

Type of protection Examples of intellectual property Time to allow for application
Trade marks Product names, logos, jingles 4 months
Appearance of a product including, shape,
Registered designs 1 month
packaging, patterns, colours, decoration
Inventions and products, eg machines and
Patents Around 5 years
machine parts, tools, medicines

Application
This law means if a magazine company makes a logo, a brand, or a product they would have to apply
for intellectual property. This would stop other magazine companies from stealing or copying their
property. So if the owner of the product feels like like someone has stolen their property they can
sue them in a civil court case

For magazine companies they would have to trademark their logos, articles and photos so there is
less of a risk of having their property stolen. The producers of the magazine would want to make sure
that logos, articles and photos are all owned by them and trademarked so they cannot be stolen. This
would apply to my magazine because they have their own product name and logos so they would
want to apply for them to be intellectual property so they can’t be copied or stolen by any
competitive film magazine companies. Also, my magazine would not be able to use any other logos
or products as other film magazine, so they must make their logos and products original

Obscene Publications Act 1959

For the purposes of this Act an article shall be deemed to be obscene if its effect or (where the
article comprises two or more distinct items) the effect of any one of its items is, if taken as a whole,
such as to tend to deprave and corrupt persons who are likely, having regard to all relevant
circumstances, to read, see or hear the matter contained or embodied in it.

In this Act ‘article’ means any description of an article containing or embodying matter to be read or
looked at or both, any sound record and any film or other record of a picture or pictures.

Application
This law punishes obscene acts or words in a public place, obscene material can include written
words, visual depictions, or spoken words. This is to protect children from seeing obscene things, the
consequence of this would be a prison sentence.

For magazine companies this law would mean that they couldn’t have any obscene acts or words in
their magazines. The producers of the magazine would have to make sure that the magazines don’t
have any obscene acts so as to not risk getting arrested. This would apply to my magazine because
they describe a movie scene in a very dark manner or if they show an image of a sexual scene from a
film they could risk breaking this law . To avoid breaking this law the editors would have to remove or
censor any obscene material such as sexual images or violence

Trespass
This is a civil law.
Trespass to land consists of any unjustifiable intrusion by a person upon the land in possession of
another.
Civil trespass is actionable in the courts.

Application
This law is not to go onto private land because it could lead to them getting sued, which could cause
them to lose money and damage their reputation. To avoid this they will have to get permission from
the owner of a private land.

For a magazine company they would need permission by a person to use photos of their house or
permission to enter their house for an interview but it needs to be documented so they can prove
they were given permission if they are falsely accused of trespassing. The magazine's producers
would have to make sure that the photographer or interviewer had written permission to enter the
person's private property. This would apply to my magazine because film magazines like to interview
celebrities and directors and the people who interview the celebrities would need permission for
them to go on to their private property.

Privacy
The introduction of the Human Rights Act 1998 incorporated into English law the European
Convention on Human Rights.

Article 8.1 of the ECHR provides an explicit right to respect for a private life:
Article 8 protects your right to respect for your private life, your family life, your home and your
correspondence (letters, telephone calls and emails, for example).
 
Privacy Law is a law which deals with the use of people’s personal information and making sure they
aren't intruded upon. These laws make sure people can't have their information wrongly used
without permission.

The effect this has on radio:

This means that they can't tell the listeners people’s full names or any private details they don't want
revealed. For example if a viewer calls in but they don't want their name to be revealed then they
can't say it.

The effect this has on television:

This is also basically the same as radio, they can't use people’s full names without their consent. This
also means that if they take footage of someone they need to get that person’s permission before
they air it on television.

Anyone who believes their right has been broken can make a civil claim in the courts against those
they believe have invaded their privacy.
When applying the legal principles the court will balance the claimant's right to privacy against the
right to freedom of expression.

If the claimant is proved to be correct this could result in an injunction banning publication of
information; damages; and return or destruction of the material gained from the intrusion.

Application
This law means that you can risk being sued by a person for using their personal information without
their consent, this could cause the person to lose money from being sued. To avoid this they would
have to get a person's written consent to use their private information.

For a magazine company this would mean that they would not be able to publish their personal
information in their magazine. The producers would make sure that the articles don’t have any
personal information about people to make sure they don’t get sued. This would apply to my
magazine because some celebrities' personal information might get leaked and a lot of film
magazines would want to talk about it but they can’t without risking being sued. Also they would
need to check their images and text to make sure no personal and private information is included.

Defamation Act 2013

This Act reformed defamation law on issues of the right to freedom of expression and the protection
of reputation. It also comprised a response to perceptions that the law as it stood was giving rise to
libel tourism and other inappropriate claims.

The Act changed existing criteria for a successful claim, by requiring claimants to show actual or
probable serious harm (which, in the case of for-profit bodies, is restricted to serious financial loss),
before suing for defamation in England or Wales.

It also enhanced existing defences, by introducing a defence for website operators hosting
user-generated content (provided they comply with a procedure to enable the complainant to
resolve disputes directly with the author of the material concerned or otherwise remove it), and
introducing new statutory defences of truth, honest opinion, and "publication on a matter of public
interest“.

LIBEL
A written, published false statement that is damaging to a person's reputation.

SLANDER
Making a false spoken statement damaging to a person's reputation.

Defamation is a civil law and so you would need to sue someone who you believe has damaged your
reputation.

Application
This law means if you say or write false statements that damage their reputation they can sue you. If
you break this law you risk being sued by someone who they might have made a false spoken
statement damaging that person's reputation. This could cause the person to lose money from being
sued. To avoid this they cannot not make any false statements that could damage a person's
reputation.
For a magazine company they would not be able to write false statements that cloud damage a
person's reputation. The producers of the magazine will have to be sure that any information
published is true and accurate and not false. This applies to Empire because a lot of celebrities have
to deal with false claims from people and this can be very damaging to their reputation especially if it
is published in a magazine which because a lot of people read magazines and can be easily
convinced. So to avoid breaking this law editors would have to make sure all information in the
articles are 100% true

Ethical issues
An ethical issue is not linked to law or legal issues, it is more linked to what is morally right or wrong.
If an ethical line is crossed it won’t result in legal consequences. The consequences of crossing the
line for a magazine company could cause offence to the audience which would lead to them losing
their audience and getting a negative impact on their reputation. Also, complaints to a regulatory
body could lead to the company being investigated. The way a film magazine company could cross an
ethical line is by publishing material in their magazines such as offensive stereotypes and they can’t
use explicit or harmful language. Also, for a film magazine company they would have to promote
films unde the 15 age rating because their audiences are fairly young so they would want to risk
exposing them to films with scenes that could be harmful to children. They would also have to censor
any swear words an actor or director says in an interview and wouldn’t be able to show
inappropriate images from films. Also with the growing diversity in movies a film magazine wouldn’t
be able to write anything that could be seen as racist, sexist, homophobic etc.

Protecting under 18s

Protecting under 18s is to protect children from seeing inappropriate things that could be damaging.
It is an ethical issue because in the UK people under the age of 18 are considered to be a child and so
magazine companies would have to be careful about what they publish such as swearing which some
young people might imitate. So to avoid this issue magazine companies must avoid having swear
words in their articles and if they are quoting a person they must censor it out. This would be
relevant for a film magazine because they interview actors and film directors and if they swear they
would have to censor it out. Also the way a film magazine company could cross an ethical line is by
publishing material in their magazines such as explicit or harmful language. Also, for a film magazine
company they would have to censor some images if the film that they are promoting has a 15 or 18
age rating because their audiences are fairly young so they would want to risk exposing them to films
with scenes that could be harmful to children such sexual scenes. They would also have to censor any
swear words an actor or director says in an interview and wouldn’t be able to show inappropriate
images from films.

Representation
Representation is how people, places and events are portrayed by the media. All representations are
constructed by producers through media language such as mise en scene, shots, sound and editing.
Although representation of people can perpetuate stereotypes which could be seen as racist, sexist,
homophobic etc. This would be relevant for a film magazine because more and more films are
becoming more diverse with their cast and a film magazine would need to be aware of this, avoid
relying on stereotypes and not be negative about the increase in diversity. They also interview
celebrities about films and a celebrity might say something offensive about someone and the
company couldn’t say that they agree with that person. They would also have to avoid negative
representations and stereotypes in their images and text

Production method
The production process of a magazine involves several steps that are often carried out
simultaneously by all who contribute to the final product, including the editorial and advertising
departments, the printer, and the circulation department. Interviewing someone who is vulnerable
or a child would be seen as unethical because they might not know what the interviewer is talking
about and this could make them nervous and confused which can be damaging to them. Also using
hidden microphones or of record information is unethical because the person being interviewed
would not want what they said to be published. This would apply to a film magazine because people
who interview celebrities might want to cause some drama because it would make the articles they
publish look more interesting to audiences because people like to hear and talk about celebrity
drama. Also they might want to interview child celebrities and they might ask them confusing
questions that they might not understand and put them under pressure which could make them
nervous and scared.

Content
The content of a magazine is what the magazine features such as the text and images. Although
content published by magazine companies can be seen as unethical if the text or images are not
appropriate such as falsifying information or something that offends or insultes the readers, listeners
or users. It could also be seen as unethical to use inappropriate images of someone in their
magazine. This would apply to a film magazine because they could publish falsifying information
about a celebrity that has no proof of being true and they could say something that might offend
readers by saying something negative about fans of a certain movie franchise. Also, magazine
companies could show images of celebrities in an inappropriate way such as sexualising them. To
avoid breaking this law the editor would have to make sure that all of their content is ethically
correct and does not have any falsifying information or something that offends or insultes the
readers.