The role of copyright and related rights in the entertainment business : a comparison between Maltese and UK law

Abstract

The concept of entertainment is probably, to the minds of most, synonymous with amusement. According to the Concise Oxford Dictionary, to entertain means, interalia, to 'amuse' or 'occupy agreeably'. 'Entertainment', however, is also defined as 'public performance or show'; therefore, the notion is injected with a public character. Consequently, the Entertainment Business is that industry which concerns itself with the amusement of the general public. It is this meaning which has been accorded to the term throughout this thesis. The study will therefore deal with amusement for the general public as a group; thus private forms of amusement are excluded. Within the purview of this thesis, then, fall the music industry, the film industry, broadcasting stations and theatrical productions. This emphasis on amusement removes one temporarily from issues of legality; yet the persons involved in the entertainment industry are also working hard on a daily basis. A section of the law must exist to cater for such individuals: to give them rights and eventually to enforce these rights in the event that they be infringed. Copyright law is precisely an example of this part of the law. This thesis is therefore concerned with the role of copyright as a guardian of those who create forms of public enjoyment, and those who exploit them in order that they be diffused in the widest manner possible, and yet within the confines of legality. It tries to outline the praiseworthy as well as the deficient parts of the task of copyright law in these matters as it exists in Malta and in the UK.