Industry expert blog

            I watched two podcasts from Entertainment Law.com. Episode 32 was about UMG v. VEOH and episode 43 wasabout Sony Pictures v. Faulkner. The two podcasts talked about many court case analyses, so I picked two cases, which are related to my animation business.

            In the first podcast, the attorney talked about the copyright infringement law. In 2007, The Universal Music Group (UMG) sued Veoh because users uploaded music videos from UMG to Veoh’s websites.  UMG claimed that the hosting video company should take the responsibility for every infringed video by users and be liable for the full cost of policing for infringement. From the attorney’s opinion, the lawsuit against Veoh was very important for entertainment companies forcing the courts to revise the law, DMCA safe harbors. In order to prevent the copyright infringement law on online hosting users and providers, the copyright holder has to alert the ISP to the infringing material and put aggressive copyright warnings below copyrighted videos. Moreover, the Internet is a mass market; as a result, the copyright holder has to keep their intellectual property safe. Such as having the ability to limit the public access to the materials and remove it. Furthermore, if you prosecuted a company that infringed your product, you could show the rights and the ability to control infringement that could also prevent the defendant to attack the ownership.

            In the second podcast, the attorney talked about fair use. The lawsuit is about the film distributor violating Faulkner’s copyrighted work by taking a quote from his book without permission.  Sony picture won the lawsuit because they only used a nine-word quote from a thick novel. The attorney analyzed that the copyrighted work is in printed format. However, Sony used it into a speaking part in a comedy film. So, this transmogrification in medium tips is the factor in favor of transformative.  In another hand, Sony only used nine words from a 220-page novel, the same as qualitative significance to the initiating work as a whole, and it is de minims, thus is considered fair use.

            After listening to the two podcasts, I learned more about how to safeguard my artwork by limited access, to put a warning sign on the Internet, and how to fair use digital materials such as images, music, movies, and Internet elements.

Three legal liabilities

My business is an Animation Company that performs some outdoor shooting activities. In this post, I list three examples of legal liabilities, which are related to my business.

            On April 15^Th, 2013, two bomb blasts turned the 117^th Boston marathon into a tragic event. From the first moment, officials said that the attack was a terrorist act, but they continued investigating. Later in that day, authorities confirmed that the death toll was three, one of them being an 8-year-old boy. During the dramatic even, local hospitals reported that at least 144 people were being treated. As for these injured people, more than seventeen were in dangerous conditions and twenty-five in serious condition. What began as a simple form of entertainment where crowd and participants gathered for the annual marathon race, turned into this horrific nightmare

            In my opinion, the security team needed a complete risks plan before the beginning of the event. Public safety could be maintained by making a plan to reduce the risk of an attack. A possible plan could have been to changing the location of the event to the suburb area because it is easy to manage people in a suburb rather than in downtown Boston.  In addition, everyone getting into the finish line area should have passed the security check. That could have filtered anyone carrying weapons.

            On March 14^th, 2011, an employee got injured while repairing a roller coaster at one of the Disney’s parks. After a few days, the employee died at the hospital. Russell Sherry Roscoe, 52 year-old, was air lifted to the Orlando Regional Medical Center. Few days after the incident, he died due to severe head injuries.

            Safety is a big issue when it comes to handling tech equipment. Even if the reputation of the Mickey Mouse Company is in high standing, this tragic incident adds up to the negative light instead of the magical experience. So, the mechanic should evaluate and analyze the potential risks, which could be threat for the assets and their safety.

            In November 2011, a crewmember died during the shooting of the movie Dark Knight Rises in New York. Officials could not identify the unknown man, who suffered a heart attack during the rehearsal of the epic finale battle shoot between the cape crusader and his nemesis. “The studio can confirm that a male extra passed away while on a break during an off-set crowd rehearsal for a sequence with several hundred extras... in early November" (Michael, 2011). A Warner Bros. representative told The Post. It was reported that the production team fully co-operated with official investigations that took place in order to find out the cause of death. One can simply question how does this act of god play out for the studio when the man’s family comes knocking at their office door for explanation.

            I did some research about their safety preparations, and I found that they didn’t have medical team present at the backstage during that time. In order to reduce the legal liability, we should identify the risks of the security and understand it to reduce the risk, and provide details of potential healthy risks that must be covered to shoot safely. Meanwhile, prepare the first-aid kit and medical support team to ensure employee safety, health, and welfare.

            Liabilities in the entertainment industry may exist in all forms. Whether it comes in the form of a terrorist act, or a simple malfunction of technology or purely an act of god, somebody is always responsible. Legal battles, safekeeping and legacy cost follows after these kinds of horrific incidents. Due to these reasons, entertainment companies or organizations have implemented insurance policy, emergency risk management plans, and limited liability contracts to push liabilities away from themselves. 

Advantages and disadvantages between the console game and PC game

I have been a console fan and PC gamer for more than 8 years. In recent years, both of them provided technical power and robust Internet services and it also allowed it to target audiences between 13-33 years old young male. Last year, the gaming PC industry declined by more than 9% in the U.S., whereas it was the fastest growing entertainment business in China. It is because the sale of the console games in China got banned since 2002. As a result, some console makers and vendors import console games illegally from Japan or the U.S. This makes the price of the console game machines very high in China.

Also, piracy is highly a serious problem in China. People can easily download all kinds of popular PC games from websites for free now. However, it is not easy to find free resources for the console game, from the Internet. Even if you find the resources to download it, you will still need to buy an expensive console game machine to play it. This is the sole reason behind the booming console game business in Chinese market.

I did research about the cost of PC games and console games available worldwide. The cost of PC games is higher than the console games. For instance, the price of the popular game such as Tomb Raider is $60 for the console version while it is $50 for the PC version. Another example is Play Station3 as it provides Play Station Plus program, which offers you some high discounts and even free games. Moreover, all the major gaming consoles like Play Station 3, Xbox, and the Wii U have their own fantastic online backstage services; some are free, and some charges a monthly fee. PC games depend primarily on the Internet connection. If the Internet crashes, you will not be able to have access to the game eventually it lets your opponent kill your character in the game.

For the ability to play, the requirements of the PC are much higher than console. You need to consider the hardware specifically for your PC, making sure it is good enough to run the game. Today, a gaming PC would cost around $2000 where as the Play Station only costs $300.

I recommend you to play the PC game if you have a good PC and Internet connection because games look much better on a PC. The Xbox and PS3 cannot keep up with newer games as they get stuck with the same hardware for many years, without any upgrades.


Reference: www.gamingtruth.com
http://ktar.com/216/1621501/Console-vs-PC-games--Declaring-a-victor

The product management style of Shanghai Disneyland Park

The Shanghai Disneyland Park is the sixth Disney Park in the world, and the biggest Chinese- foreign joint venture entertainment project. It will be open in the end of 2015. Many people anticipate what it will look like. According to CCTV news reported, Robert A. "Bob" Iger, the chairman of The Walt Disney Company said Shanghai Disney will incorporate with Chinese culture. It would be an original and unique Chinese Disney park. The Chinese government has given a lot of preferential policies to the creative industry since 2008. So, China has a good opportunity to develop cultural creative industries. Therefore, Robert hopes to have the aid of the Chinese government to develop the mutual benefits. Moreover, he will bring some experienced employees from Disney world to the Shanghai Disney Park, and search for additional partnerships in China.

Robert A. “Bob” lger demonstrate the biggest challenge of our industry is telling a good story. Despite the stories in this industry, nobody can ensure the success because it contains risks. The risks in recent years have included the distribution of fake products, and these products have been growing rapidly in China. Especially pirating music, movies and software. Disney has formed a significant demand, and has become part of the cultural needs in China. Robert illustrate that every entertainment industry will face the pirating problem. Disney, however, will not be afraid of the fake and pirated products impact. According to his demonstration, the best way to resist a fake product is to introduce authentic products, and allow consumers truly appreciate their value.

The Chinese market is very important to Disney because Shanghai is the biggest city in China. The shanghai Disneyland Park is located in the best area of Shanghai, which is close to a river and small mountains.  Also, the Disney castle in Shanghai is called Magical Fairytale Castle, and it will be the biggest Disney Castle in the world. It does not matter the movie Iron Man was a big hit in China, or Disney Parks have been becoming more popular in the world. All the previously mentioned elements show that Disney has confidence in investing Chinese market. Hopefully, Disney and other foreign companies will continue to invest in new projects in China for the near and far- flung future.

Negotiating Interview

Last week, I interviewed a salesman. He shared some experience of his negotiating style. He works for a for profit healthcare facility, so he was boasting of the quality of his clinic during the interview. He illustrated that the service of for profit clinics is better than non-profit clinics, but the cost is much higher. Their goal is to sell more medicines, which are not being covered by the customers’ health insurance.

I asked him about his BATNA before negotiating with potential customers. He answered “understanding customer’s interests are very important, because people in different age group have different health perspectives. “  He showed me that old patients might want to reduce costs by going to the non-profit clinics, while the young patients want to get cured quickly with a good service, thus they choose for-profit clinics. However, we can change some old patients’ perceptions by using objective criteria to describe the outcome, that has impact on them, such as showing facility’s credentials, different services that we may offer, and providing some examples of relevant interests. These also could separate the people from the problem.

Dirty tricks seldom happen to heath care industry, but recognizing when people try to employ dirty tricks is very important part of negotiation. If you see a dirty trick attempt during negotiation, you can magnify the trick with the law.

Moreover, if you want to obtain more clients you need to build long-term relationship with them. The most efficient way to build relationships with them is by keeping track of the patients’ condition. When the patients have a fully recovered then you may send them some good words, which can make them feel good. For this reason, they may introduce some clients to you by your good services.

He also explained that the communication style is critical to obtain more clients. Our body language, tone, and words directly affect the outcome. Lack of eye contact often interprets that you seem to disregard or not interested. Inappropriate words and tone illustrate you are not professional and cannot be trusted. If both parties are not consistent, then efficient negotiation with the customer will be difficult. Therefore, creating a professional and comfort negotiating atmospheres are very important for successful medical institutes.

He emphasized that the salesmen need to understand patients’ needs, situation and interests. These are particularly key negotiation strategies for any sales people, asking patients more questions about their concerns, analyzing what is valuable to them and their needs. Once you understand their interests, you can create mutual gains. Then directly approach their interest showing them how it will benefit both parties, and telling them the advantage of outcomes on how you will reach their goals from other clinics. They will be satisfied with your offer without any concern about the cost.

Picture from:http://courses.independent.co.uk/training/negotiation-skills-workshop-175579