I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand.
— Old Chinese proverb

Multimedia works are a complex marriage of art and technology, involving writers, directors, producers, computer programmers, worklng with text-based materials, special software, scanners, audio, video, animation, and the latest in CD-ROM and online distribution methods. Most multimedia works are interactive — allowing the user to affect the work’s order of playback, or its performance.



While many of the issues presented by multimedia are new, most of the “content” in multimedia works comes from familiar sources of information — books, records, moles, databases, photographs — belong “poured” into new “containers” — the computer software that organizes and assembles the multimedia content into an interactive work. This FAQ (guide to Frequently Asked Questions) provides information about some common legal questions about multimedia works.

A multimedia work is a computer program that contains two or more of the following types of content: video, audio, photographs, text, graphics, animation, and applications programs — and stores them in a digital form, for viewing and interaction.

What legal issues are involved in creating and marketing a multimedia work?

A wide variety of legal issues touch on the creation of a multimedia work, crossing over a number of traditional legal subspecialties, including computer law, publishing law, entertainment law, and traditional contract law.

Intellectual property issues are of prime importance — whether you use already-existing materials as content or not.




Copyright, patent, trademark and trade name, trade secret, and unfair competition laws help you to protect the “contents” of the multimedia work as wail as its software “container.”

If already-existing materials are planned for use, it is extremely important for you to determine whether the material is in the public domain, or what the rights of owners and other parties may be.

Torts are not fancy cakes — in the legal biz, they’re lawsuits. Individuals and companies have rights of publicly and privacy in their name, likeness, voice, trademark or image — rights which must be waved or released parlor to use in a multimedia work. It’s also possible to commit defamation (injuring reputation) and to falsely associate your multimedia work with others.

Contract law provides much of the basics of the arrangements surrounding the development, implementation, and production of a multimedia work.

Employee agreements, independent contractor agreements, contracts for development and financing, distribution and insurance agreements will cover everything from transfer of ownership in creative work to payments, warranties, shipping, and what color the box will be.

Using already-existing content requires licenses and permissions.

Each industry has its own licensing conventions, requiring knowledge about publishing, the motion picture industry, photography, the music business, and the computer software industry. Where these materials have been produced or will be created by members of one or more of the twenty or so entertainment industry unions, special contracts must be used.

I want to include the fully text of 10 entries from different volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica in my multimedia work. Is this a fair use?

Let’s think about that. The Encyclopedia Britannica is protected by copyright. Even though it was originally produced in the UK, US law will also protect it, under international copyright treaties which provide that a foreign work will receive the same legal treatment in a country that a native work would receive. In this case, US fair use law would potentially apply, as if the Encyclopedia were made in the US.

Fair use under the US copyright law looks at four factors to determine whether copying which would otherwise be infringement may be done without compensation to the copyright owner: 1) whether the use is commercial or nonprofit; 2) the nature of the copyrighted work; 3) the amount and substantially of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole, and 4) the effect of the use on the market for the original work.

Many authors make the assumption that copying a small number of pages in relation to the size of the original book is an automatic “safe harbor” fair use. This is generally not true! Encyclopedias and other factual compendia are treated as collected works. Each article stands as a separately copyrightable work. In this case, the author would be making a full copy of 10 separate works to include them in a commercial product, a use unlikely to be considered fair. Rather than rely on fair use, most authors seek permissions or licenses from the copyright owner for the multimedia use.

If something doesn’t have a copyright notice on it, can I assume that it’s not protected by copyright?

No. Maybe this work is in the public domain, but it’s very unlikely. It depends on when the content was created, which is usually not an easy thing to tell. Works which are not protected by copyright are in the public domain, meaning they are free to use. The requirement of a copyright notice was recently dropped in US law — for works created after March 1, 1989. Works created before then needed a notice to avoid the public domain.

I’m interested in adapting a published novel into a text-sound-and-picture work. The author died in 1949. Is the book out of copyright?

US copyright law currently protects works for the life of the author plus 70 years. However, an older law was in effect for works created before 1978, which protected unpublished works indefinitely, and published works only if registered, for 26 years. The copyright could be renewed for an additional 26 years, but frequently was not. Since the book is published, you should assume that it was registered and do a search for the registration and renewal. Even if the copyright was renewed, the work will fail into the public domain in 2021, so you’ll have to secure the rights — or wait.

How do I legally use images I’ve scanned into my computer in a multimedia work?

Unless the images you’re interested in using are very old and out of copyright, you’ll have to search the copyrights on them, and get permission in writing, before you use them.

You should assume that any contemporary-looking images in printed materials — including photographs of yourself (photographs are generally taken by someone other than the subject of the photograph) — are protected by copyright — whether or not they are registered, since the registration requirement was made voluntary in 1978.

I’d like to use my own pixel-painted artwork of Humphrey Bogart’s face as an artistic image in my multimedia work. Can I?

Living as well as some deceased persons (particularly celebrities) have rights of privacy and publicity. These are state-law based rights that give a person control over name, likeness, image, and voice — with the most restrictive states being the “entertainment” states of California and New York. Since they differ from state to state, this usually means getting blanket permission for national distribution.

You should plan carefully and far in advance, because these rights are frequently very difficult to negotiate.

News figures, such as the President, are subject to a First Amendment exception to the right of publicly. The most common pitfall is to forget that still photographs and news video footage of news figures are also COPYRIGHTED WORKS — requiring permission to use in whole or in part, regardless of the fact that the subject is a news figure.

I’m writing narration for an interactive novel. Someone else is gong to combine the text with original images. Who owns the copyright?

It could be owned jointly by both of you, unless you contract to the contrary. Two or more authors who contribute inseparable or interdependent parts to a work end up as joint authors and joint owners, in equal parts to the number of authors. Because copyrights are far more valuable if undivided, this can create a mess, especially if the other author or authors are contractors which you paid — thinking you would own the copyrights.

Contractors own the copyrights to the works they create, regardless of whether you pay for them to be created or not. To avoid the joint work situation, hire the other authors as your employees rather than contractors, or make them transfer the copyrights in writing.

I found a graphics file on the internet. Can I use it?

Many people assume that information on the internet is not protected by copyright. it is — down to the last e-mail you sent. This is because copyright is automatic and happens when a work is first fixed in a tangible format — written on paper, saved to a computer file, recorded to a device. In fact, many legal scholars argue that now that there is no requirement of copyright notice, or registration — there is no way for a work to fail into the public domain, prior to the expiration of its copyright.




Can I patent my multimedia work?

Depending on the software and hardware involved, your multimedia computer program and/or system components may contain patentable subject matter. You should see a patent attorney if you are using novel methods or techniques, or if your work interacts with hardware components in a novel way.

And, be on the lookout for the need to license existing patents — GIF’s are a good example. You will need a patent license from the owner to make a commercial distribution of a program which makes GIF technology.

My work is a Web page. Do I need a copyright license to link to other pages?

Web pages, like any other work flexed in a tangible medium, are copyrightable. When you point to another Web page by linking to it, you are not reproducing the contents of the page — you are merely enabling other users to find it. However, if you frame someone else’s content in your web page—watch out. Laws are unsettled and uncertain at this time, but it looks like the court system will slowly evolve a rule of law that says that framing is a “false association” because it creates an impression of sponsorship or affiliation that just isn’t there.

Is there a central location to search images and works for their ownership?

Unfortunately, not at this time.

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