16.1 Rights

16.1.1 IPR/Copyright

The intellectual property rights associated with a moving image work are described by a range of terms across different legal traditions and professional contexts, including copyright, authors’ rights (droit d’auteur), related or neighbouring rights, rights ownership, or simply “rights”. These rights form part of the broader field of intellectual property, which also includes areas such as trademarks, patents, design rights, database rights, performers’ rights, and moral rights. In the audiovisual context, multiple forms of intellectual property may coexist within a single work, reflecting the collaborative and composite nature of moving image production.

Internationally, copyright systems broadly fall within two overlapping traditions: copyright systems, historically associated with common law jurisdictions, and authors’ rights systems (droit d’auteur), more commonly associated with civil law traditions. In copyright systems associated with common-law traditions, rights are often treated primarily as transferable economic property interests. By contrast, droit d’auteur systems place greater emphasis on the personal relationship between author and work, particularly through moral rights such as attribution and integrity, which in some jurisdictions may be perpetual, un-waivable, or non-transferable. While these systems differ in emphasis, most countries participate in shared international frameworks established through treaties such as the Berne Convention, the Rome Convention, and agreements administered by the World Intellectual Property Organisation and the World Trade Organisation.

It is important to note that intellectual property rights in a moving image work are created automatically, regardless of any requirement for formal registration by the creators or copyright owners of the work.

Rights information may apply differently at the levels of the Work, Manifestation, and Item. Cataloguers should distinguish carefully between these levels, as the legal, contractual, and operational rights associated with each may differ substantially.

Rights associated with a Work or Variant primarily concern intellectual property rights arising from the creation of the moving image work itself and its component elements; these are generally abstract and independent of any particular physical or digital embodiment of the work.

Rights associated with a Manifestation generally concern the authorised exploitation, publication, distribution, or dissemination of a particular version or release of a Work.

Rights associated with an Item generally concern the ownership, custody, access conditions, or permitted handling of a specific physical or digital object held by an archive or collection. These may arise through contract, deposit agreement, institutional policy, or practical conservation requirements rather than copyright law itself.

16.1.1.1 Rights in a Moving Image Work

Rights in the Work vs Rights in the Item: Ownership of a physical or digital item of a work does not necessarily imply ownership of copyright or exploitation rights in the work embodied within it.

With that context in mind, the following attempts to define a good practice set of properties which the moving image cataloguer should consider, both in reference to their specific (geographical) legal framework. In short: capturing more of the core rights data now will safeguard future archival activity better than capturing less of that rights data now.

16.1.1.1.1 Source of data

Rights-related information should, wherever possible, be derived from on-screen credits and notices appearing in the earliest authorised manifestation of the work in its primary country of origin. Historically, this has usually meant the first theatrical release in the principal production territory. However, works are often released simultaneously or near-simultaneously in multiple territories and across multiple platforms such as cinemas, broadcast, streaming platforms, and online services. In some contexts, archives may also document aspects of “chain of title”: the sequence of transfers, assignments, inheritances, or licences through which rights ownership or control has passed over time.

A flexible approach is recommended: record information from the most authoritative available manifestation that can reasonably be considered the earliest authorised fixation or public release of the work. The source of this information should be documented within the cataloguing record. In addition, use information supplied by production companies, rights holders, donors, collecting societies, legal deposit documentation, or other authoritative secondary sources.

16.1.1.1.2 Authors of a moving image Work

Terminology and Roles in Rights Documentation: The terminology used in moving image rights documentation varies across legal systems, industries, and institutional practice. Terms such as author, copyright owner, rights holder, producer, distributor, sales agent, licensor, estate, and rights representative are often used interchangeably in practice, although they describe different legal or commercial relationships to a Work. For cataloguing purposes, it is useful to distinguish between:

• Author / Creator: the person(s) recognised by applicable law as having created the Work or a component part of the Work.

• First Owner: the person or entity that initially acquires the economic rights in the Work under applicable law. In some jurisdictions this is the author; in others it may be an employer, producer, or commissioning party.

• Copyright Owner: the person or entity currently owning some or all economic rights in the Work. Ownership may change through assignment, inheritance, merger, acquisition, or operation of law.

• Rights Holder: a broader practical term referring to any person or organisation exercising control over rights exploitation, licensing, or permissions relating to the Work. A rights holder may or may not be the copyright owner.

• Licensor: a party authorised to grant permissions or licences relating to the Work.

• Intermediary: a third party acting on behalf of a copyright owner or rights holder, such as a distributor, broadcaster, publisher, collective management organisation, sales agent, or aggregator.

• Estate: the legal successor(s) administering rights after the death of an author or rights owner. Estates may own rights directly or act through representatives.

• Collective Management Organisation (CMO): an organisation administering rights collectively on behalf of multiple rights holders, particularly for music, performers’ rights, re-transmission rights, or public performance rights.

A general rule is that authors of a moving image work are the first owners of the intellectual property rights. The rules for determining the authors of a moving image work vary according to national laws. Broadly, these rules fall into three main groups:

• Civil-law jurisdictions (e.g. France, Germany, Japan, Russia) tend to recognise multiple co-authors, typically the director, screenwriter/adapter, composer and other creative contributors, as authors.

• Common-law countries (e.g. UK, Australia, Canada, India) often adopt a producer/commissioning model, naming the director and the person or company who arranged or financed the film as the author (the “maker” or “producer”)

• The USA follows a work-for-hire regime: an employer or commissioning party (e.g. a studio) is deemed the author if the film qualifies as a work made for hire.

It should be noted that the rules for determining authorship may have changed over time as laws have been updated so it may be useful to check what rules were in place at the time of the production. [Relevant laws can be found on national government websites or on WIPO https://www.wipo.int/wipolex/en/members]

The identification of authors and contributors, and their associated biographical dates, especially their death dates,is an important component of rights documentation within moving image cataloguing. In many jurisdictions, the duration of copyright protection is calculated by reference to the death date of one or more recognised authors of a work . Internationally, many countries apply the minimum standards established under the Berne Convention, which provides a minimum copyright term of 50 years after the death of the author (post mortem auctoris), although numerous territories extend this duration through national or regional legislation e.g. the European Union, Japan and Brazil apply a general term of life plus 70 years; India commonly applies life plus 60 years. Because definitions of authorship and duration rules vary internationally it is recommended that cataloguers record authors, contributors and death dates in as much detail as possible, even where the immediate legal relevance is uncertain.

Pseudonymous/Anonymous works: Where the identity of the author is unknown, or intentionally obscured through the use of a pseudonym, copyright duration may be calculated from the date of publication, public communication, or creation of the work rather than from the death date of an identified author.

Performers: The performances by actors, singers, musicians and dancers that are recorded in a moving image work have separate rights (Performers or Neighbouring Rights) which generally last for 50 years.

Pre-existing or embedded works: In most cases a moving image Work contains underlying rights. These may include: - music rights, - still image rights, - literary adaptation rights, - archive footage rights, - or rights relating to artworks or designs appearing within the Work.

Such rights may be owned or controlled independently from the principal moving image work and may require separate clearances for particular forms of exploitation. Depending on the context, and the importance of this information for the institution, the cataloguer may consider capturing details of these underlying rights. Not all embedded rights arise through copyright alone. Moving image works may also contain performers’ rights, trademarks, design rights, personality/publicity rights, privacy interests, or contractual restrictions.

Orphan Works: Orphan Works are those works still protected by copyright but the copyright owner(s) cannot be found after carrying out due diligence. Some jurisdictions (e.g., European Union, UK, Canada, Japan) have introduced schemes (via licensing or exceptions) to allow archives to digitise and make available Orphan Works in their collections.

16.1.1.1.3 Production, Publication and Release

In addition to authors’ death dates, cataloguers should seek to record other significant dates associated with a work, including production date, completion date, first publication date, first public exhibition or broadcast date, and dates of subsequent versions or restorations. These dates can be critical for calculating copyright duration in jurisdictions where terms are based on publication, communication to the public, corporate authorship.

Published/Unpublished: Some jurisdictions have different copyright duration rules for unpublished works. The Berne Convention Article 3(3) defines “published works” by two cumulative elements: authorial consent and public availability of copies in sufficient quantity. It also lists acts that, despite public accessibility, do not count as publication: public recitation, dramatic or musical performance, public reading, communication by wire or broadcasting, and exhibition of works of art. In the UK and USA the publication status of a work will have an impact on the duration of copyright. Some countries may have specific rules for posthumous works (e.g. Canada).

16.1.1.1.4 Copyright Status

Where possible, based on the available information about the authors and their death dates or publication and release dates, archives should record an assessment of the copyright status of a work, such as “in copyright”, “public domain”, “unknown”, “undetermined”, or “status requiring further research”. Recording the copyright status supports preservation planning, digitisation workflows, access management, licensing activity, public programming, and risk assessment. This information helps institutions make informed decisions about conservation, public access, restoration, online dissemination, educational use, and commercial reuse. Even provisional or incomplete rights assessments can significantly reduce duplicated research effort and support future reinterpretation as laws, evidence, and legal frameworks evolve over time.

16.1.1.2 Recommended properties for Moving Image Works and Variants

16.1.1.2.1 Authors and Creators

• Producer and Production Companies
• Director(s), with death dates if known
• Screenplay author(s), with death dates if known
• Dialogue author(s) (if different), with death dates if known
• Author(s) of underlying literary work (book, play, etc) if relevant, with death dates if known
• Music composer(s), with death dates if known (note that this refers to the composer of any music commissioned for and used in the film, rather than any pre-existing music used within the film – see INSERT INTERNAL LINK)

16.1.1.2.2 Performers

• Full cast if feasible, or main billed cast at a minimum, with death dates if known

16.1.1.2.3 Copyright Holder(s)

• The name of the person(s) or company(s) that own the copyright
• Copyright Credit: Names of the Copyright Holder(s), Copyright Date as displayed on screen (often associated with a © symbol). Where there is no on screen copyright credit, this information may be obtained from production companies, rights holders, donors, or other sources.
• Status of the Copyright Owner a) Current or Active b) Previous or Inactive (where rights are known to have transferred), with date of transfer if known, or where rights are known to have expired

16.1.1.2.4 Production Date

Capture a Start Date and End Date if possible, capturing the full known period of production.

16.1.1.2.5 Release Date

Taken from first published manifestation, historically the theatrical release in primary country of production, but now with more fluid criteria.

16.1.1.2.6 Publication Status

Record if the work is 'Published' with the Publication Date, or if it is 'Unpublished'.

16.1.1.2.7 Pre-existing or embedded works

Detail of any pre-existing or embedded works (moving image, artistic, dramatic, literary or musical works) contained within the moving image work, rights authorship and ownership captured as fully as possible, e.g. title, author(s), creation date.

16.1.1.2.8 External Registration Schemes

Where Works are added to copyright schemes with external registries or portals, for example the EU’s Orphan Works and Out of Commerce databases, or registered e.g., with the US Copyright Office, the suggested data to capture is:

• name of scheme e.g. EUIPO, US Copyright Office, OWLS (UK)
• unique identifier for the work in the scheme’s database
• URL for online record in the scheme’s database / website
• filename / link to digital version of the registration document
• name of member of archive staff responsible for registration
• date of registration
• date of expiry of licence granted by registration scheme (if applicable)

16.1.1.2.9 Copyright Status

• Record if the work is e.g. ‘In Copyright’, ‘Out of Copyright’ or ‘Public Domain’, or Undetermined. Use an internal value list.
• Record the (expected) copyright expiry date (usually 31st December) or the date the work goes into the public domain (usually the 1st January) where known.

16.1.1.2.10 Notes

A free-text Notes field may be used to record related information that does not fit easily within the structured properties described or is not strictly copyright related. This may include contractual provisions, restrictions, obligations, uncertainties, risk assessments, or contextual information relevant to the rights management, access, or exploitation of the Work.

http://copyright.gov/docs/priorities.pdf