Legal and Ethnical Obligations

Ethical standards are based on the human principles of right and wrong. The differences between
them are these: Legal standards are based on written law, while ethical standards are based on
human rights and wrongs. Something can be legal but not ethical. Companies must walk on a fine
line to make sure that they are doing their best to make sure they are both legally and ethnically
correct in both ways.

Contacts

There are two different types of contract; confidentiality and exclusivity. A confidentiality contract or
agreement is usually known as a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) between two or more parties
where the subject of the agreement is the promise that the information inside of the contract will be
kept a secret from other parties other than the ones that are involved. These agreements can be
mutual agreements, where both parties are obligated to maintain secrecy or they can be unilateral
agreements, which means that only the party signing the agreement are the ones who need to keep
quiet.

A exclusivity contract usually outlines the details of a buyer who agrees to purchase something
exclusively from a seller so that they are they only one that is allowed to provide that good to the
masses. For example, A24 movies signed an exclusivity deal with Netflix that means that they were
the only people allowed to stream ‘Uncut Gems’ online.

Employment legislation

Employment legislation regulates the relationship between employers and employees. Health and
safety in the workplace and equal opportunities are both part of this. Health and safety legislation is
set in place so that employers provide and maintain safe work systems, maintain safe work
equipment and provide a safe place of work, which includes safe access and everything related to
that.

Equal opportunities legislation is set in place to provide a legal framework to protect the rights of
individuals under equality of opportunity for all. Because of this, it means that everyone has an equal
chance of getting employed at a workplace, no matter what age they age, what race they are, where
they come from or even what religion they are. With equal opportunities legislation, it means that
the only thing you must worry about is if you are the right fit for the job or not without the worries
of anything else.

Intellectual property

Intellectual property is a category of property that allows you to have ownership over the things that
you buy or create yourself, meaning that nobody will be able to steal it from you or claim that it is
yours. Trademarking and copyrighting are two different forms of intellectual property.

Trademarking is what’s used when a brand wants to copyright a name, logo or even slogan to use as
their own, as they identify it as their thing. For example, McDonald’s have a trademark over the
name ‘McDonalds’, ‘I’m Lovin’ it!’ slogan and the ‘M’ logo.
On the other hand, copyrighting is what is used for creative or artistic works such as songs, books or
even visual arts like videography, photography or paintings. After a copyright is obtained, the owner
holds the exclusive right to reproduce the original creation and craft original works based off that
original piece, too. A copyright holder also has the right to sell the rights of that material to another
person. For example, a musician may allow another musician to sample their original song on the
artist’s new song.

Ethical

Ethical issues have come up more recently than ever before in media and for good
reason. We are finally getting to a point where they are an important topic and that
alone should be celebrated but not stop there. Ethical issues should be one of the main
issues within the media.

Ethical codes of practice are important as they set out a company’s ethical guidelines
and best practices along the lines of ethics to follow for honesty, integrity and
professionalism. In special cases, such as banking and finance, specific laws are put in
place for business conduct and in others, a code of ethics can be adopted.

Ethical representation is one of the biggest topics in the media right now. After all, for
years on end, we’d had white American or European people playing roles of colour and it
is finally becoming a topic of discussion with those fighting for those roles finally getting
their voices heard. It is very important that these cultures are recognised in ways that
they wouldn’t have even a few years ago. Every step forward is a necessary step taken.

Legal

Legal issues in media have always been a thing. However, both the British Board of Film
Classification and Ofcom work to make sure that it is kept a safe place to work.

The British Board of Film Classification is a non government organization (NGO) founded
by the film industry in 1912 that is responsible for the national classification of
censorship of films before they are displayed in cinemas, distributed to be sold in stores
or distributed to be streamed online.

Ofcom is the regulator for the communications services that we rely on every day. They
are the ones who regulate the internet services, telephones services, mobile phone
services as well as keeping an eye on who broadcasts on tv and radio. In short, they
oversee all of the world’s broadcasting, making sure to keep it as safe of a place as it
can possibly be.

Bibliography:

https://www.ipwatchdog.com/2017/12/16/confidentiality-agreement-important/id=91206/

https://cmsvoc.co.uk/blog/what-is-hr-employment-legislation/

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/equality-act-2010-guidance

https://www.loveniplaw.co.uk/difference-trademark-copyright/

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/code-of-ethics.asp

https://www.bbfc.co.uk/

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/home