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May 4, 2007
For My Fellow Dancers and Artists Friends...
Recently I sent this information through email. I have placed it here on my site for those of you who did not receive it. I hope it is helpful for those who can use it for future reference.
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Dear Fellow Dancers and Artists:
I want to take a minute of your time to bring an important issue to your attention – intellectual property. This issue is of extreme importance if you plan to work in the entertainment industry. I don’t know what knowledge you have of copyrights with regards to intellectual property, so I want to give you a brief understanding of what it is and how it affects you.
Intellectual property refers to creations of the mind: inventions, literary and artistic works, and symbols, names, images, and designs used in commerce.
For example, all of the costumes, choreography and music for “Ancient Chinese Secret” and “Coffee, Tea or Me” are my intellectual property (unless already copyrighted by another party). Because of this, no one can perform all or part of these acts without my consent. I would feel honored if these acts inspired other dancers to create a new piece, but that piece would have to be able to stand alone without any obvious references to my works. This ownership extends to any openly expressed concepts or ideas that I come up with, even if I never bring those concepts to fruition.
You also have certain rights if you perform in someone else’s piece. The rights of performers are recognized because their creative intervention is necessary to give life to, for example, motion pictures or musical, dramatic and choreographic works; and because they have a justifiable interest in legal protection of their individual interpretations. Performers are provided the rights to prevent fixation (recording), broadcasting and communication to the public of their live performances without their consent, and the right to prevent reproduction of fixations of their performances under certain circumstances. The rights in respect of broadcasting and communication to the public may be in the form of equitable remunerations rather than a right to prevent. Due to the personal nature of their creations, some national laws also grant performers moral rights, which may be exercised to prevent unauthorized uses of their name and image, or modifications to their performances that present them in an unfavorable light.
With the proliferation of mediums such as YouTube, your work can easily be shared and used without your knowledge. My suggestion to you is that you take some time to decide how you want to deal with your intellectual property such as concepts, costumes, music and choreography (particularly if they are used to generate revenue). If you choreograph all or part of a piece for a group, you might want to have a contractual arrangement with that group to decide who owns the rights to that piece.
Go to www.dancenyc.org and type in “contract template” in their website’s search box. It will then take you to an example contract that you can view as a “PDF” file.
You can get a more in-depth explanation of copyrights and intellectual property from the resources below.
http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/intelprp/
http://www.wipo.int/freepublications/en/intproperty/909/wipo_pub_909.pdf
I hope you’ve found this information helpful and pertinent to your chosen profession/interest in dance.
Sincerely,
Toniet “Chinita” Gallego
www.tonietgallego.com
Posted by Toniet at May 4, 2007 11:11 AM