Looking out for your business

From Copyright infringement to fair use their seems to always be something that you should be prepared for.   When starting a business it may seem like a simply task to sign initial contracts for copyrights, permission and/or distributions, but their are so many tedious factors that you have to consider.  It is always wise to seek legal and business planning advisement when starting any business.  I just believe that it is especially necessary in the entertainment business.  Not just for your company but also for the clients that you will sign.  Cases such as the Axl Rose v Activision for fraudulent contracts, in which Axl is suing for mis representation of the information that was given to him.  He was led to believe that a past band member would not be a part of the Guitar Hero III.  He was suing for 20 million dollars.  This issues could be two example for you depending on which point of you you would take after reading the facts.  1. Be aware of who you are hiring because they could be feeding lies to your clients that could cost you money in the future. 2.  Be sure your contract is thorough and comprehensive by clients so that they are able to understand what they are signing.
Case are not just based on the facts or common sense issues.  A company should be prepared for anything that can be construed or misunderstood.  The best way to be prepared for that is to have all papers current and expert legal assistance.  If not your company will be waisting money more on cases, which may not even be worth a dime, and less on building the business.  Other issues such as fair use of music may come into play many times before the year is over.








For example, Threshold Media is suing Universal and Relativity Media for statutory damages for using a song in a documentary that may not be a documentary.  The documentary film Catfish used a song from youtube that was created by Amy Kuney  Their is confusion as to whether the seen that the song is being used in is scene that may not be part of the documentary.  This promotes the debate of whether the song is fair use.  These types of law suites could be avoided if the song was research and if the documentary was better written to have such issues discovered and resolved initially.  Again, another example of how some of the simplest mistakes can be costly.