Copyright Errors Cost French Presidential Candidate € 100,000

Would you purchase film insurance for a 10-minute video? – Most of us would say ‘No’. But, unfortunately, even a 10-minute video can result in copyright infringement errors and some severe lawsuits, as you will soon realise in this case.

Copyright infringement occurs when a copyrighted work is distributed, publicly displayed, or used without the owner’s permission. When the work owners are made aware, they can act and prosecute the user. The copyright infringement could be pictures, videos, music or even written work.

The case study will discuss how the famous French presidential candidate was a victim of copyright infringement errors in his candidate application video, additionally, how film insurance would have made a difference.

Presidential Candidate Video – Copyright Infringement Error

Whether you create a video online using pictures or shoot the video yourself, there is always a chance of copyright infringement errors that result in lawsuits. The French presidential candidate found out about these risks the hard way.

The candidate’s 10-minute application video included him talking over several unlicensed pictures and videos and featured clips from French movies.

 His team took pictures and videos from all over the Internet without any permission or licence. In the digital world, experts can pick up such actions in seconds—a cheap 10-minute video quickly became very costly.

The owners of pictures and clips had to take legal moves as their work was used for promotional purposes and broke copy infringement laws. The copyright owners included well-known French film directors Luc Besson, François Ozon and the production house Gaumont.

The owners took the case to court, where the candidate, also a talk show pundit, was found guilty of copyright infringement error.

Consequences Of The Errors

The candidate and his team had to pay a huge amount to the parties that owned the copyrighted work. The video was then rejected and not promoted on most public media.

The case harmed his reputation on top of the large financial loss. The consequences included fines, compensation costs and even loss of ownership rights to his own video.

The video copyright infringement errors got more attention than his words in the video, which ruined his chance of winning the campaign and gaining followers.

How to Avoid Copyright Infringement Errors?

Copyright infringement errors are one of the worst claims a business can face due to the expensive fine and reputation damage. It is a horrible feeling when you have worked hard on a video project, which is all gone due to error claims and unlicensed work.

The best way to avoid copyright Infringement errors is:

• Understand Local Copyright Law

• Try To Create Original Work

• Get Permission and Licences for Someone Else’s Work- Nothing is Free

• Credit Work Used-For Example, Artist Collaboration

• Get Everything in Writing and Contracts

• Purchase Relevant Insurance for Your Industry

  
  

How Can Film Insurance Cover Copyright Infringement Errors?

Film insurance will help deal with these copyright infringement errors in such cases. Film insurance protects the production company or individual film project from possible liability risks and claims related to the project.

The insurance can be designed for huge film projects to small videos.  The cover will provide the cost of lawsuit defence and settlement costs. All film projects must be protected from errors and omissions claims, especially if the project will be promoted to the public.

So, if the presidential candidate and his team had film insurance, they could have avoided some of the financial loss and even reputation damage (a settlement payment to stop the case from going to court).

Film insurance also covers injuries, equipment damage, errors and omissions claims, and third-party damage. It is one of the best insurance policies to obtain before starting your project, regardless of its size.

Hence, if there is even the slightest risk of copyright infringement errors related to your film, you need film insurance.

To Learn More about film insurance and protect your video project from copyright infringement errors in Hong Kong and Asia, contact Red Asia Insurance.