Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Dispute Prevention And Resolution In The Film And Media Industry

Film and Media Industry of India is heading towards a great growth. At the same time Film and Media Industry is also facing issues of Piracy, Copyright Violations, etc. New Digital and Technological Measures have been adopted to prevent unauthorised and illegal use of works of Film and Media Industry.

In fact, India has been planning to formulate laws on the line of Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). However, Film and Media Industry of India cannot be protected unless we adopt Techno Legal Measures to prevent unauthorised use and distribution of their works.

Film and Media Industry of India is also frequently found in disputes with other for violation of its Legal and Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs). The traditional methods of Litigation in India are not very encouraging. We have to device methods like Alternative Dispute resolution (ADR) and Online Dispute Resolution (ODR).

At the International level, the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) has been providing world class Dispute Resolution Services for long. One such Service is known as WIPO Mediation and Expedited Arbitration for Film and Media. Surprisingly, Asian Film and Media Industry are not considering utilising the Services of WIPO in this regard. They are still taking their disputes before traditional Courts.

A great deal of ADR and ODR Disputes are “Referred” by Law Firms and Practicing Legal Professionals. They incorporate suitable “ADR and ODR Clauses” in the Technology Agreements, Film and entertainment related Agreements, etc. If these Firms and Professionals do not incorporate proper Arbitration Clause, a Dispute can never reach to International Organisations and would land up in a Court of Law.

At Perry4Law we are very particular of these considerations and we Draft various Film and Media Industry related Agreement accordingly. Of course, this is done only after duly informing the Parties to the Agreement and respecting the “Party Autonomy” concept.Further, while drafting and vetting Contractual Agreements involving Film and Media Industry, we specifically and consensually incorporate an ADR/ODR Clause mandating “Institutional Arbitration” through Institutions like WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center or UNCITRAL based Arbitration Institutions, etc.

However, WIPO’s Mediation and Expedited Arbitration for Film and Media initiative cannot succeed till it is a part of “Holistic Effort” comprising of Law Firms and Professionals spread all over the globe.

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