FILM MINISTER TO ADDRESS COPYRIGHT EVENT

GOVERNMENT Minister Janet Anderson will speak at a union-backed conference dealing with creative rights in broadcasting on March 14.
Anderson, Minister for Tourism, Film, and Broadcasting at the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, is due to deliver the keynote speech at a conference organised by the Creators' Rights Alliance (CRA).
Bringing together a wide spectrum of rights' holders and campaigners ‘The Value Of Creative Rights In 21st Century Broadcasting’ conference is supported by all trade unions in the audiovisual and publishing sector that are affiliated to the CRA.
Other speakers at the event, to be held at the National Film theatre, include Alan Plater, Billy Bragg, and cartoonist Steve Bell.
The CRA are aiming to secure better legal protection for authors' rights, both inside the UK, and in Europe, where copyright legislation is currently being reviewed.
Creative workers have reported increased efforts by employers over recent years to deprive them of authors' rights to the material they produce.
Broadcasters have been condemned by the Alliance for demanding that rights' holders should waive their entitlement to royalties and other payments as a condition of employment.
In the television industry BECTU are currently involved in a campaign to win payments to directors for transmissions of programmes they have made.
Performers and creators in other sectors also face employers who insist on annexing all intellectual rights to audio-visual and written work, often demanding that rights should be surrendered ‘for all media whether invented or not, throughout the universe in perpetuity’.
Trade unions believe that contracts of this kind deny creative workers the fair fruits of their endeavours, and amount to an attack on wages and conditions.
The March 14 conference is hoped to improve cooperation between groups and individuals who are concerned about the erosion of creative rights, and may lead to more intense campaigning in the run-up to a General Election. (CD)