This document discusses several legal topics related to employment, liability, intellectual property, and codes of practice in the media industry. It covers employment legislation and employees' rights to protect worker safety. It also discusses public liability insurance to cover damages if the public is harmed on a film set. Intellectual property rights and copyright are explained to protect original ideas and creations. Finally, codes of practice set ethical standards for media organizations like the BBC.

1. Legal, ethical & contractual
assignment.

2. Employment legislation
• Protects employers and their workers from unsafe and unhealthy situations.
• The employers then know that they have a right to be safe at work.
• For example if they work on set of a film then they make sure that every employee
will be same while filming and if they have any medical conditions then they wont
put that employee it any situation that would harm that person.
• Without employment legislation them employee might feel unsafe at work and
might quit that job.

3. Public liability
• If you film on location you need to be ready for anything that happens especially in
a public place.
• If they trip or fall on any equipment that belongs to you, you need to be ready to
cover costs if they get harmed or injured.
• The company can not afford to cover the costs of all of the harm of the public so
with public liability they are covered to up to a million pounds maybe more to
cover any damages that has happened.
• This is for the safety of the public within the set of anything if filming in a public
place.

4. Employer liability
• Employee’s know that the companies they work for have to be insured so If they
do get hurt at work then they are ready for any lawsuits and then they can cover
the costs.
• Not every employee can afford to cover the costs of any lawsuits and if they get
harmed in their work place then it is the companies right to pay up what they earn
as the employment legislation says that they have to right to be safe at work then
if they get harmed it is the companies fault giving them false expectations.

5. Employee’s Rights
• Being an employee you have rights by law are are guaranteed that all employee’s should be
aware of, these include days holiday that you get.
• By law without a contract you are given 28days paid holiday per year but with the contract,
whatever is on your contract applies.
• There are more rights that you get are payment, you have the right the get paid at least the
minimal wage, this applies the first day you start work.
• For 16- 17 years olds have the right to have study time off. This is for educational purposes
only.
• These are only a few of rights that you are guaranteed.
• Without any of these rights then your employee could get fed up with work and saying that
the work is not fair and if their boss says for example they can get no time for holiday the
employee has a right to go against what he has said unless it is in a contract, and take some
time for a holiday. Without study time off for educational purposes then this could affect
their education and potentially their future.

6. Equal Opportunities
• Sex discrimination (1975)- Before this act then people of different genders were
treated unequal. Through this act people of different genders are treated all equal.
• Religion (1976)- This helps people of different religion to be equal to everybody
else in the work environment. Also through this act makes it illegal to employ
anybody that is not legal to work in the UK.
• Equal pay (1970-1980)- Again this is with gender and men and women do get paid
equally within the same job.
• Disability (1995) – This operates in the same way with the religion act and sex
discrimination act but with people with all kinds of disabilities including hearing,
physical, aids, mental health problems and a few more.
• Human rights (1998)- This is for the respect for privet lives, freedom and family life
in particular for employee’s.

7. Contracts
• Exclusively- This will work well within the media industry, With this contract if you
are working with other employee’s you have to discus things with only that party.
• Confidentially- This will work well with bug lock buster films, if your working on a
film you don’t want anything to leak out in the contract it will state that no
information will be leaked out before it is released so you have no spoilers. This
will help the release of the film as well.
• With breaking the contract then it can spoil the release of the film and then they
might not make as much money as they expected. They will also break the trust
they have within the company and not get employed with any other company and
that can make them unemployable.

8. Intellectual Property, Copy right and
Trademark
• You cant do your own thing if that idea came from another person. For example a
book or song. You need to get permission from the author or the artist to use their
work otherwise your stepping onto copyright territory.
• If you came up with something you have certain rights to make sure its your
property and not anybody else’s.
• This can help you within a lawsuit, if you have proof that your idea was ‘stolen’
then you can sue the person who stole your idea, this can be for any artist, author.

9. Intellectual Property
• Intellectual property is if you write your own song or screenplay or book or
anything, you need to prove it was your idea just incase somebody writes
something similar.
• You need to prove that is was your idea just in case it gets taken into court or
something so you need to keep a record of it so recording it in someway will prove
it but it needs to be dated in someway.
• Some writers post their work to themselves in a sealed envelope and not open it.
• You need to do this because if you are well known and people want to steal your
work for their work you need to prove in someway that it is your work so you get
all the credit and money for what was your idea In the first place.

10. Copy Right
• If you came up with something lets say a song and it is on the internet you out
there in the public and one of the member of the public wants your song to use in
something they need to get permission from you first before they can use it or it is
classed as copyright.
• This happened to Vanilla Ice, queen and David Bowie. Vanilla Ice didn’t get his
popularity through his music but through the copyright suit because he had stolen
Queens and David Bowie rhythm and song.

11. Code of practice
• The code is agreed between BBC and OFCOM. These are not legally
binding like contracts but set up to stop unethical actions forming.
• These are like rules they make to help things like how things will be dealt
with.
• One has been made for mobiles because a big percentage of 8-17 year
olds use them and it is to stop watching content on the phones that they
shouldn’t be watching. It like a protection to close off inappropriate things
to make it ethical.