Even if broadcasters acquired comprehensive exploitation rights, the digital rights for the exploitation by Video-on-Demand, Near-Video-on-Demand or Interactive TV may still belong to producers and authors of films. The MITIL Law Centre, organised by Gérald Bigle and Arnold Vahrenwald, offers a discussion of the hot topics in contract law.
There are different issues for discussion:
First: Old contracts - did they cover new electronic exploitation rights?
- Did the grant of TV rights include digital rights?
- Buy-outs: are they effective on the basis of the copyright laws of European
states?
- Do "All Media Clauses" and "Future Technology Clauses"
include electronic exploitation rights?
- Which remuneration is payable and to whom, and how should it be calculated
- in particular residuals?
Second: Which clauses and terms can be used to cover appropriately new types of exploitation like VOD, NVOD and Interactive TV?
- How should digital exploitation rights be defined to avoid problems with
traditional licensing schemes (territoriality, audience, number of broadcasts,
calculation of remuneration)?
- Choice of law clauses opting for the most convenient legal system.
- Arbitration clauses and the avoidance of the jurisprudence by the courts.
- Safeguarding the interests of the parties and the use of software for digital
exploitation.
Contracts on the digital exploitation of films have to be drafted carefully, taking into account that the jurisprudence is only developing and that there are few guiding cases. The discussion of the hot topics shall contribute to provide broadcasters with more (legal) security for the negotiation of digital rights in audiovisual content.