Entertainment law is an umbrella concept imported from American practice; it gathers the legal issues connected with the film, television, music, theatre and sports industries. In Georgia no statute bears that name: the field is assembled from individual acts, and its legal core is the Law on Copyright and Neighbouring Rights, while media-services regulation rests on the broadcasting legislation.
The Scope of the Law's Regulation
Article one of the Law on Copyright and Neighbouring Rights defines its scope: it regulates the relations connected with property and personal non-property copyright arising upon the creation and use of works of science, literature and art. The law further covers relations connected with the neighbouring rights of performers, producers of phonograms and videograms, and broadcasting organizations, as well as relations connected with the rights of the maker of a database.
What Is Protected and What Is Not
Under article five, copyright extends to works of science, literature and art that are the result of intellectual-creative activity, irrespective of the purpose, merit, genre, volume, form or means of expression of the work. The right covers a work existing in objective form, regardless of whether it has been published or made publicly known. Copyright, however, does not extend to ideas, methods, processes, systems, means, concepts, principles, discoveries or facts, even where they are expressed, described or explained in a work.
Categories of Works
Article six lists the protected objects that make this body of law practical for the entertainment industry: literary works, including a book, brochure, article and computer program; dramatic and musical-dramatic works, choreographic and pantomimic works and other stage works; musical works with or without text; audiovisual works; works of sculpture, painting, graphics and lithography; decorative-applied and monumental works; theatrical-design works; photographic works; maps, plans and sketches; processed works — translations, adaptations, screen versions, reviews, stagings, compilations and musical arrangements; and composite works — collections, encyclopedias, anthologies and databases.
Importantly, processed and composite works are protected equally with the original work, and the protection of a computer program extends to every kind of program, including operating systems, in any language and form, including source text and object code.
The Audiovisual Work Regime
For film and television, article fifteen is decisive. The authors (co-authors) of an audiovisual work are the director, the author of the screenplay, the author of the dialogues, and the author of a musical work with or without text created specifically for that audiovisual work. Concluding a contract on the creation of the work entails the transfer of the co-authors' exclusive right of use to the producer of the audiovisual work, unless the contract provides otherwise.
At the same time the authors retain the right to receive remuneration from users — broadcasting organizations, cinemas and others — for any use of the work, and an agreement to the contrary between the producer and the authors is void. This right is exercised only through an organization managing property rights on a collective basis. The producer, for its part, is entitled to indicate its name upon any use of the work or to demand such indication. Authors of earlier works incorporated into the audiovisual work, as well as authors of works created during its production, retain copyright in their works of independent significance.
Performers' Rights
Article forty-seven grants the performer personal and property rights in the performance: the right to the name; the right to the respect of reputation — protection of the performance against any distortion or other interference that may harm the performer's honour, dignity or business reputation; and the right to use the performance in any form, including the right to receive remuneration for every form of use of the performance.
The exclusive right of use means the right to permit or prohibit the recording of a performance not previously fixed, the reproduction of a performance fixed on a phonogram, its broadcasting or communication by cable, the rental or other transfer of possession of originals and copies, their distribution, and the making available of the performance to a person at a time and place chosen by that person. Permission is granted by the performer — and, for the performance of a collective of performers, by the head of that collective — on the basis of a written contract concluded with the user. A contract with a broadcaster on transmission by air or cable transfers the rights of recording and subsequent use only where this is directly provided for in the contract.
Frequently Asked Questions
Questions about entertainment law most often concern the legislative basis of the field and the objects of protection.
Does an entertainment-law statute exist in Georgia?
No. Entertainment law is an umbrella concept: no statute of that name exists, and the field is assembled from the Law on Copyright and Neighbouring Rights and the broadcasting legislation.
Does the law protect an idea?
No. Copyright does not extend to ideas, methods, processes, concepts or facts, even where they are expressed in a work. Protection concerns only the result of creative activity — a work existing in objective form.
Who are the authors of an audiovisual work?
The co-authors are the director, the author of the screenplay, the author of the dialogues and the author of music created specifically for the work. The creation contract transfers the exclusive right of use to the producer, while the right to remuneration remains with the authors.
What rights does a performer hold in the performance?
The personal rights to the name and to the respect of reputation, and the exclusive right of use — recording, reproduction, broadcasting, rental, distribution and making available — including the right to receive remuneration.
How We Help on Legal.ge
The Legal.ge team works on the legal issues of the entertainment industry: identifying copyright and neighbouring rights when a work is created, preparing contracts among authors, performers, producers and broadcasters, and resolving disputes over remuneration and licensing.
If you work in film, music, theatre or digital content and need your rights structured, write to us on Legal.ge — we will review your project and propose legally grounded solutions.