Daniel Crush

Legal Obligations Report

Throughout this report, I will be making the staff at ‘Aardman Animations’ aware of their
contractual obligations and the regulatory issues relevant to the project. As well as that I will
make the staff aware of the ethical issues that could become a concern whilst working
within their professional bodies.

Contractual

Types of contract: Contracts are a written or spoken agreement that’s intended to be

enforceable by law. The contracts can range from any type of transaction, including a
service, sale or the transfer of the ownership of a property. Furthermore, parties to a
contract may be individuals, corporations, partnerships and even governments. Usually, a
contract is signed by someone, but it doesn’t always have to be. An example of a contract is
with a phone. If the customer agrees with the contract, they will sign it and it would mean
that you’d pay a fee every month for a fixed period of time. They are most commonly set for
12 or 24 months and provide mobile customers with a monthly allowance of calls, data and
texts. Moreover, if the customer wants to get rid of
the contract mid-way through, they would have to
pay off the remaining balance in full. However, this
isn’t always the case, due to the fact that some
companies don’t allow it. People starting new jobs
would also have a contract. If it’s broken there could
however be some complications, including court.

Non-disclosure agreements: A Non-disclosure agreement, also known as a confidentiality

agreement, is a legal contract that outlines confidential material, knowledge or information
between at least two parties that they wish to share with each other. There are three types
of non-disclosure agreements which are ‘Unilateral NDA’, ‘Bilateral NDA’ and ‘Multilateral
NDA’. An NDA (Non-disclosure agreements) are in place to create a confidential relationship
between the parties which will protect any confidential and propriety information or trade
secrets.

Unilateral NDA: A unilateral NDA is where two parties are involved and only one of the
parties anticipates disclosing the information to the other party.
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Bilateral NDA: A bilateral NDA is where two parties are involved

and both parties anticipates disclosing the information to one
another that each intends to protect. Furthermore, this is a more
common NDA when businesses are considering a merger.

Multilateral NDA: A multilateral NDA is where three or more

parties are involved and at least one of the parties anticipates
disclosing the information to the other parties. They also require
that the information’s protected from further disclosure.

Time Management: Time management is the process of organising and planning how you
divide your time between specific activities. Having good time management allows you to
work smarter so that you can get more done in less time, even when time is tight and
pressures are high. However, failing to manage your time damages your effectiveness and
can cause stress. For example, when working for Aardman Animations, you’ll be working on
different stages of the same project. Some people may be working
on the clay models, some may be working on the background
designs. If they’re required to be completed at the same time, and
one isn’t, that would cause a problem. The people that’s finished
their part of the contract, won’t be able to start their next part
until the other people are done with theirs. It’s important to keep
your time managed to ensure that everything runs smoothly.
Moreover, people can be naturally good at time management, but
for most it doesn’t come easy and it’s a skill that should be
learned.

Risk Management: Risk management applies to all companies and businesses. It’s the
process of identifying and managing the risks that an organisation may face. One type of risk
that a business may face is uncertainty. These risks may include the following: strategic
failures, financial failures, operational failures, environmental disasters, market disruptions
and regulatory violations. It’s impossible for companies to remove all the risk
from an organisation, but it is important that they manage the risks.
This can be done by buying insurance, sharing risks with others or
by avoiding risky positions. An example of risk management is in a
factory. It can be a dangerous place and it’s important that
companies implement an appropriate risk management process.
They would reduce the likelihood of an accident by limiting work
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schedules to ensure that the employees don’t get fatigued. As well as that, placing the
equipment in less vulnerable areas, performing maintenance on equipment regularly and
having supervisors and management present. At Aardman Animations, their risk
management would be keeping the fire exits clear and making sure that no doors are
blocked in case of a fire.

Regulatory Issues

Freedom of Information: The ‘Freedom of Information Act 2000’ is an act that provides
public access to information that’s held by public authorities. There are two ways in which
the act does this. They are as follows: By making public authorities obliged to publish certain
information about their activities and by making members of the public entitled to request
information from public authorities. Furthermore, this act in England, Wales and Northern
Ireland covers any recorded information that’s held by a public authority. However,
Scotland have their own act that holds information by Scottish public authorities, called the
‘Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002’. In addition, public authorities include
government departments, the NHS, local authorities, police forces and state schools.
However, the Act doesn’t cover every organisation that
receives public money. An example of that are some
charities that receive grants and certain private sector
organisations that perform public functions. Moreover,
recorded information includes the following: printed
documents, letters, computer files, emails, photographs
and sound or video recordings.

Censorship: Censorship is the suppression of words, images, or ideas that are known as
‘offensive’. This can be carried out by the government as well as private pressure groups.
Things that can be suppressed include speech, public communication or other information
that’s considered harmful, sensitive, objectionable or politically incorrect. Furthermore,
censorship can be direct or indirect. This is referred to as soft censorship. This type of
censorship can occur in a variety of media, including
speech, music, books, films, radio, television and the
internet for a range of reasons. These could include
national security, to control obscenity, child pornography,
and hate speech in order to protect children or other
vulnerable groups. In addition to that, it can also prevent
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slander and libel. Aardman create animations for TV and films so it will be essential for them
to know all types of censorships to prevent them from damaging their reputation. An
example of censorship Aardman may have to do could include aggressive material or bad
language that may not be suitable for their target audience.

Copyright Law: The copyright designs and patents act is the current UK copyright law that
was introduced on the 15th November 1988. Its purpose was to give the creators of music,
literacy, drama and much more, protection of their work if it were to be stolen. In addition,
it also makes sure people are credited for their work. At the moment in the UK, the laws of
copyright are automatically enforced. This means you do not have to directly apply or
register for copyright protection. Copyright always lasts for a lifetime and then additional
years after the creator has died. This can be as high as seventy years. Furthermore, once this
time has run out, the copyright is normally passed down to through the creator’s family,
meaning that the copyright does not solely lie with the creator. However, using primary
assets such as images, text and video without the copyright holder’s permission is still a
breach of copyright, even if the creator has died, which could lead you to serious trouble.
Moreover, to avoid copyright you can pay the creator money (if this is an option) to be able
to use their work. This could be an illustration, a logo or even a design. On the other hand, if
you pay someone to be able to use their work you will have to follow the strict rules that
apply. For example, you will not be able to re sell the work that you have paid for.
Additionally, copyright applies to software. If you buy a software package they come with
different licenses. These can include a single license and a site license. A single license will
be allocated to a single computer. If you then transfer over the software to another
computer, this is breaching the copyright law as you have only paid for the software to be
available on one computer. To do this legally, you would need to purchase another license.
Some companies that sell software will allocate a certain number of computers that
software. This is known as a multi-user license. Furthermore, the final
software package that is on offer is a site license. This allows entire
buildings and work spaces a copy of the program to be able to use. It
can be particularly effective for schools that need their students to
have a copy of a certain program. Aardman will need to ensure that
they know all of the copyright laws in case of a breach.

Trademarks: Trademarks are words, phrases, symbols or designs that distinguish the goods
or services of one trader from another. Some examples include the following: brand names,
logos and slogans. In Europe, trademarks must be registered to be eligible for protection.
For that trademark to continue to be protected, they must be used in commerce, have fees
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paid as required to keep it in force and it must not

become generic. Moreover, trademarks can only be
used by the original company who owns that trademark.
An example of a trademark would be the ‘apple’ on Apple products. It shows that Apple
have created the product and that it’s theirs. A trademark is in place so that no one can
copy or take the creation, otherwise it could be taken to court for copyright infringement. In
addition, Aardman have their own trademark that they use on their work so that people
know it belongs to them. It says the word ‘Aardman’ with a star in the top left corner, above
the ‘A’. Its colour theme is just solid red.

Office of Communication (OFCOM): Ofcom, also known as Office of Communications is the

current communications regulator in the UK. They regulate a range of things, including: TV,
radio, telecoms, mobiles and postal services. Its duty is to ensure people of the UK are
protected from scams and malicious material.
Furthermore, the regulator was established by the
Office of Communications Act 2002 and fully received
authority from the Communications Act 2003.

Advertising Standards Authority (ASA): ASA, also known as Advertising Standards Authority
is the current independent regulator of advertising across the whole of media in the UK.
They make sure that ads across the UK media stick to the advertising rules. In addition, ASA
ban different ads that are viewed as being harmful, misleading or even offensive, if they
receive a complaint from consumers and businesses. Furthermore, all non-broadcast
advertising should comply with the ‘Code of Non-broadcast Advertising, Sales Promotion
and Direct Marketing’, also known as the ‘CAP Code’. These include bill board posters and
online advertisements. Broadcast advertisements should comply with the ‘UK Code of
Broadcast Advertising’, also known as the ‘BCAP Code’. These include television text,
teleshopping and interactive television advertisements. However, persistent
breaches of the BCAP Code can result in ASA referring the
broadcaster to Ofcom where they can impose a range of
sanctions against Channel 4.
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Professional Bodies

British Interactive Multimedia Association (BIMA): BIMA, also known as British Interactive
Media Association supports individuals or groups to help them deliver more creative,
innovative and higher quality solutions across the media industry. It was formed in 1985 and
is a membership organisation primarily made up of digital agencies. Moreover, it has offices
in England, Scotland and Wales. The main purposes and
objectives of BIMA are to promote the British digital
industry, share knowledge and recognise excellence, as
well as supporting the next generation of digital
professionals.

Professional Body Codes of Practice: A professional association is usually a non-profit

organisation seeking to further a particular profession, the interests of individuals engaged
in that profession, as well as the public interest. It’s also known as a professional body or
professional organisation. Furthermore, workers at Aardman could join this type of
organisation if they wanted to. All leading professional bodies, such as the IIA, have a code
of conduct to guide the member and raise the level of trust and confidence of the public in
the profession. All members must express their commitment to the code when they join the
IIA and to subsequent changes to the code which may be agreed from time to time. The
rules and procedures for dealing with any allegation of infringement against the code are
described in the Professional Complaints Procedures. This code and the procedures are
available to the public.

Ethical

Policies & Procedures: A set of policies are guidelines which are formulated by an
organisation in order to reach its long-term goals. They are typically published in a booklet
or other form that’s widely accessible. They provide a set of guides to
help with decision making. Furthermore, procedures are designed
to influence and determine all decisions and actions, as well as the
activities that take place within the boundaries that are set. Each
procedure should outline who will do what, what steps members
of staff need to take and which forms or documents to use.
Moreover, procedures don’t need to be long or complicated, they
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can just be a few bullet points or instructions. As well as that, they can work well as forms,
checklists, flowcharts or instructions.

Ethical Requirements: When working in any part of the media industry there are always
restrictions in regard to what you’re allowed to do or say. If there were no restrictions then
it could lead to racism and discrimination of others. These restrictions are in place to protect
people and to make sure these things don’t happen. Many people believe that the internet
is a safe place to escape to but that is not entirely the case. Racist and slanderous comments
have a higher chance of appearing online since it can be done anonymously. However, these
types of comments are tracked and monitored, so even on the internet they are not
allowed. Additionally, different job roles within the media industry, for example, being a
radio presenter will have stricter restrictions and enforcements that will apply, as content
may be published freely across the world. To avoid being potentially sued by releasing
offensive information, there are certain rules to follow. Some of these include:

 You’re not allowed to use a video, sound clip or picture of anyone unless they give
you permission to do so. This can be verbally or written.

 You’re not allowed to make any slanderous comments about an individual, as it

could ruin their reputation or be seen as abusive.

 You’re not allowed to make a comment expressed through pictures, print or writing
that could be deemed as abusive. This is what is called Libel.

 You have to make sure that the content in your work is unbiased and accurate. For
example, you can’t make up false claims or allegations. This also applies to the
following:

1. Race - You have to have a range of races when creating or producing a media
product. These could include Asian, black and white.

2. Gender – You can’t just include males in the product, you must include both,
males and females.

3. Religion – You have to include a range of religions when creating or

producing a media product. You can’t just base it around one religion.
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4. Sexuality – The same applies for sexuality. Whether someone is homosexual

or heterosexual should not matter. Both sexualities should feature in a media
product.

Overall, all of these points mean that in any circumstance within a company or product, you
can’t suggest that one of these groups is superior or inferior to the other. Moreover, these
rules are essential for ‘Aardman’ as they will have to ensure that all of the acts are followed.

Representation of Gender: Media and gender is how gender is represented within media
platforms. These platforms include film, television, video games and journalism. Within the
media industry, it’s statistically been dominated by men, who hold the vast majority of
power positions. However, the numbers of women in media
professions have been growing. Moreover, studies show that
men are more likely than women to be quoted in the media
industry. As for Aardman, they need to ensure that there’s no
prejudice towards gender within their films and TV series, as
well as within their company. Men and women working for
Aardman should have equal rights.

Representation of Religious Beliefs: Within the media industry,

it’s important to include a range of religions when creating or
producing a media product to avoid being potentially sued. To
ensure that any promotional material for Aardman doesn’t seem
prejudice towards any religion, they will have to make sure that
any characters or models they create vary in ethnicity and race.
In addition to that, they will have to think about how promotional
material will affect any religious groups.

Cultural Issues & Language: Many companies strive to diversify their workforce by focusing
on recruiting workers of different cultural backgrounds and nationalities. By having a multi-
cultural workforce, it can offer a range of benefits. This can include benefits such as a
broader range of perspectives and a greater ability to
compete in the global marketplace. As well as diversity in
the workplace, it’s essential to be aware of people’s
cultural differences and diversity when creating and
designing films and TV series. This is especially important
for Aardman. They have to be careful not to offend
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people’s religious beliefs. In addition to that, as Aardman’s films are shown worldwide,
there will have to be language options or subtitles available.