Research

                                                                                              



Over the past decade, the creative landscape has been in constant flux, driven by rapid technological advancements across every field. It is the job of legislators and law practitioners to adapt to these complex systems. Through years of diverse work at Maker’s Legal, we have gained a comprehensive perspective on India’s fragile and often flawed legal infrastructure for creative industries. Industry norms frequently override the legal protections designed to safeguard creators—protections that, in turn, struggle to keep pace with evolving realities.

There still remains a surprising lack of knowledge of even basic legal tools across the arts, be it film, music, literature, art or design. Whereas laws are made to protect creators from the minute they create, most artists still look to legal resources in the end phases of their work cycle - a sort of ‘if-dispute-then-lawyer’ attitude.

To resolve this cycle, Maker’s Legal has always made research and outreach a significant priority. Since our inception, we have conducted workshops, discussions, and Q&As with industry experts and young professionals, equipping creators (‘makers’) with fundamental IP, copyright, and contract law concepts in a language they understand. Recognising the legal challenges that will continue to emerge with technological advancements, we have also launched an internal ‘Future Law’ think tank in collaboration with local and international partners.

We also realise that different categories of creators have entirely different sets of issues and have tried to address these nuances in all our sessions and research materials. Our attempt has been to communicate complex legal concepts that are tricky to grasp (at times even for lawyers to execute), in engaging and accessible ways. Keeping in mind the philosophy behind laws that affect creator economies, we also include language that is relatable to artists, with case studies, illustrations and visual cues to help firmly establish critical concepts in IP and contract law.

A snapshot of these efforts can be found below.

                                               
                                               
                       

Legal Handbook for Visual Artists
A collection of legal handbooks tailored for various practices within India’s arts and entertainment industries.

A preview of the first volume for visual arts (which includes design, fine art, photography, typeface, street art, digital art, etc.) is available on request.




AI Law
As part of our Future Law Think Tank commitments, we have ongoing programs focussed on addressing legal challenges specific to impact of evolving technologies on creative industries.





Workshop Materials
Our comprehensive research materials can be adapted into varying formats of sessions, whether it is a workshop, lecture, panel discussion or Q&A. We also customise our sessions based on the specific industry. For example, while a graphic designer who relies heavily on referencing and regularly needs to use copyrighted images, typefaces or artworks, will need to understand the concepts of licensing, fair use, public domain etc. Freelance creatives across industries need to be able to define and negotiate their scope of work, deliverables and timelines. Photographers need to be equipped with the legalities around privacy, model consents, work-for-hire principles and what truly constitutes an original expression for copyright protection. On the other hand, other creative professionals like film writers or even architects need to negotiate rights in their work.





The Irregular TimesWith The Irregular Times’ fourth edition being focussed on a broad theme of 'language', we attempted tackling the often problematic world of legalese in contracts. In a wholesome three-page spread, we simplify standard (and often tricky) clauses from real-life contracts usually offered in the art, design, film and advertising worlds.










                                             

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