Indo-U.S. FTA - Prospects for Audiovisual Services

Many WTO (World Trade Organization) member countries, including India, are defensive about opening up of the audiovisual sector in the Doha Round due to reasons of cultural sensitivity. On the other hand, the United States is pushing for liberalizing trade in this sector both in the WTO and in its bilateral FTAs (Free Trade Agreements). With the slow progress of the Doha Round, India and the United States are exploring the possibilities of entering into FTAs with like-minded trading partners. In this context, the present paper discusses the prospects of liberalizing audiovisual services under a possible Indo-U.S. FTA. The study found that India and the United States have significant trade complementarities in this sector which can be further enhanced under an FTA. It identifies areas such as co-production of films, digital content creation and broadband infrastructure in which companies from India and the United States can enter into mutually beneficial collaborations. It argues that India should enter into a media cooperation agreement with the U.S. to facilitate the inflow of technical know, finance and best management practices. It discusses regulatory and other reforms which would not only improve the productivity and global competitiveness of the Indian audiovisual sector but also enable it to gain from the FTA.Indo-U.S. FTA, GATS, bilateral agreements, audiovisual, Services

Indo-U.S. FTA: Prospects for Audiovisual Services

Many WTO (World Trade Organization) member countries, including India, are defensive about opening up of the audiovisual sector in the Doha Round due to reasons of cultural sensitivity. On the other hand, the United States is pushing for liberalizing trade in this sector - both in the WTO and in its bilateral FTAs (Free Trade Agreements). With the slow progress of the Doha Round, India and the United States are exploring the possibilities of entering into FTAs with like-minded trading partners. In this context, the present paper discusses the prospects of liberalizing audiovisual services under a possible Indo-U.S. FTA. The study found that India and the United States have significant trade complementarities in this sector which can be further enhanced under an FTA. It identifies areas such as co-production of films, digital content creation and broadband infrastructure in which companies from India and the United States can enter into mutually beneficial collaborations. It argues that India should enter into a media cooperation agreement with the U.S. to facilitate the inflow of technical know, finance and best management practices. It discusses regulatory and other reforms which would not only improve the productivity and global competitiveness of the Indian audiovisual sector but also enable it to gain from the FTA.Indo-U.S. FTA, GATS, bilateral agreements, audiovisual, services

Will Fair Use Survive? Free Expression in the Age of Copyright Control

"Fair use" is a crucial exception to "intellectual property" controls - it allows users to publish, distribute, or reproduce copyrighted or trademarked material without permission, for certain purposes. But extensive research, including statistical analysis and scores of firsthand stories from artists, writers, bloggers, and others, shows that many producers of creative works are wary of claiming fair use for fear of getting sued. The result is a serious chilling effect on creative expression and democratic discussion.Several factors must be considered in deciding whether a use of copyrighted material is "fair." Four factors identified in the copyright law are: 1) the purpose and character of the new work; 2) the nature of the original work; 3) the amount and substantiality of the original work that was used; and 4) the effect of the new work on the market for the original. Examples of fair use are criticism, commentary, news reporting, scholarship, and "multiple copies for classroom use." "Will Fair Use Survive?" suggests the need for strengthening fair use so that it can be an effective tool for anyone who contributes to culture and democratic discourse. The report finds: Artists, writers, historians, and filmmakers are burdened by a "clearance culture" that ignores fair use and forces them to seek permission (which may be denied) and pay high license fees in order to use even small amounts of copyrighted or trademarked material.The 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (the DMCA) is being used by copyright owners to pressure Internet service providers to take down material from their servers on the mere assertion that it is infringing, with no legal judgment and no consideration of fair use.An analysis of 320 letters on the Chilling Effects website, an online repository of threatening cease and desist and "take down" letters, showed that nearly 50% of the letters had the potential to stifle protected speech. Report Highlights:The giant Bank of America sent a threatening letter to a small ceramic piggy bank company called Piggy Bank of America, claiming its use of the name was a trademark violation.A "planetary enlightenment" group called Avatar consistently suppressed online discussion group postings critical of its program by using DMCA "take down" letters.MassMutual sent a cease and desist letter to the gripe site "MassMutualSuks.com," claiming trademark infringement.Mattel sued artist Tom Forsythe for his series of "Food Chain Barbies," acerbic commentaries on Mattel's role in perpetuating gender inequality. Only after a long, bruising court fight did Forsythe win the right to parody Barbie.The report recommends: creating a clearinghouse for information, including sample replies to cease and desist and "take down" letters; outreach to Internet service providers who are instructed by companies to take down sites with material they claim as copyright-protected; changes in the law to reduce the penalty for guessing wrong about fair use; and the creation of a national pro bono legal support network.On December 15, 2005, Representatives Rick Boucher, Zoe Lofgren, and John Doolittle circulated a "Dear Colleague" letter praising the report for explaining why fair use "is a crucial part of our copyright law," and why legislation is needed to secure fair use rights in the digital environment

Dementia, music and biometric gaming: Rising to the Dementia Challenge

In 2012, the U.K. government launched its Dementia Challenge, authorizing additional funding for dementia research and health care. The search for curative medicines is ongoing, but scientific research reveals evidence that music can play a positive role in general health, and in dementia and Alzheimer’s disease in particular. This article considers whether some of the challenges that dementia presents could be addressed through music therapy and proposes that biometric gaming might offer one means of channeling such associated health benefits to sufferers of dementia, even in the final stages of the disease

The Power of The Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI) in Avengers Endgame Movie: Hyperreality Perspective

In this modern era, technology plays a very important role in human life. Related to film production, Technology can emerge hyperreality -fiction reality that looks real- to provide a better experience and sensation for the viewers. Avengers Endgame movie is one of action movie that uses hyperreality for the effect. This movie is directed by Antony and Joe Ruso. This paper explores the effects of hyperreality that occurs in the superhero team. Bearing with the objective of the study, the researcher uses the theory of hyperreality proposed by Jean Baudrillard. In this paper, the researcher used a descriptive qualitative method to explore and explain how hyperreality affected the superhero team in Avengers Endgame. The result shows that CGI technology plays a very important role in creating hyperreality effects. Superheroes with incredible abilities, places, planets, weapons, and scenes are supported by CGI to enable imagination as an illusion that looks so real in the movie. Many things that do not exist and seem impossible in the real world look so real that it is difficult to distinguish between illusion and reality. That is how hyperreality effects on the Avenger Endgame movie applied

Human Cattle: Prison Overpopulation and the Political Economy of Mass Incarceration

This paper examines the costs and impacts of prison overpopulation and mass incarceration on individuals, families, communities, and society as a whole. We start with an overview of the American prison system and the costs of maintaining it today, and move on to an account of the historical background of the prison system to provide context for the discussions later in this paper. This paper proceeds to go into more detail about the financial and social costs of mass incarceration, concluding that the costs of the prison system outweigh its benefits. This paper will then discuss the stigma and stereotypes associated with prison inmates that are formed and spread through mass media. The stigma and stereotypes propagated by the media result in a negative social construction of prison inmates, contributing to a culture of incarceration that makes it difficult to end America’s dependence on prisons. The final section of the paper discusses the challenges that come with changing the culture of incarceration, which include the deep entrenchment of said culture and the self-perpetuating nature of many of the problems associated with prison, and offers possible alternatives and solutions to incarceration and the problems associated with it

Stunting death: affect, attraction and authenticity in Rated-R superhero cinema

2018 Fall.Includes bibliographical references.Stunt work is an ever-present and typically overlooked aspect of film production. The labor goes unseen by design; traditionally, Hollywood studio hierarchies regarded a good stunt performer as one who altogether eluded audience detection. The early star system's stunt performers did not see their names splashed across film industry magazines as happens today. Even contemporarily, studios and surrounding paratextual discourse systematically de-emphasize the stunt even in cases where certain stunt performers become, as Lauren Steimer put it, "hypervisible." The trick works perhaps too well, as Steimer remains one of few scholars to studies stunts. Several of these few have called for stunt work's theoretical and generic expansion. The impetus for doing so is a fundamentally ethical one. How can a society view and engage with entertainment while being unaware of those who willingly risk injury and death to imbue films with authentic action? Stunt scholarship thus far has focused primarily on stunt worker's history—from their origins as human flies, bridge-jumpers and other daredevils to feckless circus clowns and all these characters' eventual absorption into Hollywood sets. Scholars also discuss ways in which stunt work complicates traditional understandings of film diegesis. I further articulate the stunt's relationship with diegetic narrative, tracing its functions through the cinema of attractions, avant-garde spectatorship, documentary space and other story-breaking constructs. In doing so, I hope to heed one particular scholarly call to evaluate this ubiquitous brand of labor within the brightly colored, ultra-violent and action-driven world of R-Rated superhero films. Fox studios recently produced two Deadpool (2016, 2018) films and Logan (2017). Critics hailed them as groundbreaking achievements within a genre that has typically eschewed not only fourth-wall-breaking humor, but gratuitous blood and gore. Something in the characters of Wade Wilson and old man Logan reflects common perceptions of stunt people. They must surely leap back up after any injury, much like the rapidly healing antiheroes they play in these films. Industry dialectic encourages a kind of spectatorship that does not linger on the stunt body's ethereal appearance on-screen. In removing attention from the stunt, such coverage tacitly preserves audience immersion in narrative while distracting attentions from the pain and sacrifice comprising the stunt performer's career. Since these performers give filmgoers authentic-looking affective thrills, I argue for a closer look at what is not meant to be seen