NESTA (National Endowment of Science, Technology and the Arts) are proudly sponsoring a keynote speech at Sheffield Doc/Fest about the legal future of film by James Boyle, a founder of Creative Commons.

Creative Commons is working to facilitate the free availability of art, scholarship, and cultural materials by developing innovative, machine-readable licenses that individuals and institutions can attach to their work.

James Boyle, who is William Neal Reynolds Professor of Law at Duke Law School, and his colleague Jennifer Jenkins, will share their expert knowledge with Doc/Fest attendees on subjects including copyright, licensing and digital distribution.

Film-makers around the world now have to deal with a tangle of legal rules: copyrights, clearances of ever smaller fragments of music or image and licensing disputes. This session which is also sponsored by Creative Sheffield, the Sheffield City Development Agency, will explore the solutions and explain how the law affects the conditions of creativity, offering some surprising answers.

Jon Kingsbury, Director of the Creative Economy Programme at NESTA, a sponsor of the event, comments on the progress Creative Commons is making in the area of intellectual property:

“One of the key barriers to innovation and new potential business models for creative content is a clear framework for optimising the value of intellectual property. Creative Commons provides that framework while also maximizing public value.”

Adding another legal element to Doc/Fest, The Rights Business, a specialist consultancy with more than 60 clients spanning all genres across the independent production and distribution sector, will be running a free legal surgery. The 15 minute one-to-one sessions will offer advice on development and underlying rights deals, co-production, broadcaster and talent agreements and distribution and licensing deals.

Andrew Baker, CEO of The Rights Business says: "Getting rights right is key to successfully running and growing a business. With the Terms of Trade, indie quotas and reductions in production budgets all hot topics at the moment, we can advise businesses on getting the best possible rights deal, as well as managing long term growth as the media sector endures a difficult economic period."

The “Clearance Culture and the Future of Film” will be held on 7 November at 4.15pm and is free for Doc/Fest delegates. Limited members of the general public will also be able to attend. Tickets are on sale from The Showroom Cinema’s Box Office priced at £10/£8 (concessions).

The Rights Business legal surgery takes place from Friday on 7 November 12 to 5pm in The Delegate Centre, The Workstation and is free for Doc/fest delegates.