Legal Obligations Report For Aardman

Case Study
CHRIS CROOK-ASSIGNMENT 3-UNIT 12

ContractualTypes of Contract
There are lots of contracts, from a part time contract to a zero hour contract. In the
current year (2016) it is the first time in history that the United Kingdom and the rest
of the world has had so many different named contracts. Below is the full list of
contracts that Aardman offer:
1. Part Time
2.Full-time
3.Fixed-term contracts
4.Agency staff
5.Freelancers, consultants and contractors
6.Zero hour contracts
7.Employing family, young people and volunteers

Negotiating contracts
Usually, negotiating contracts works off your availability and whether the job role is
available in that particular business. Contract negotiations typically focus on revenue
and risks. But clearly, some revenues and risks are more important than others.
When you negotiate, you need to know what your top priorities are usually the
business or money-making opportunity offered by the deal and how your other
priorities rank below that. This will help you keep your eyes on the prize and avoid
getting bogged down in issues that are not as important to you. In terms of Aardman
animations, this process is fairly easy as the company is huge and willing for people
to grow into the business.

Non disclosure agreements

Non disclosure agreements are contracts that specify what may and may not be done
with confidential information disclosed by one party to another, usually in a
commercial context. The extent of obligations placed on each party depends on the
approach. NDAs often cover the purpose for which the information is disclosed, the
period during which the information may be used, and how far a party may disclose
the information within its organisation. Usually, they also stipulate how the
information must be stored, how it should be dealt with on termination, jurisdiction
and what would happen in the event of a breach, among other things.

Commissioning Processes
Commissioning is the process of finding out about public needs, then designing and
putting in place services that address those needs. In this context, it's a process
undertaken by public bodies, like central government department or local NHS
bodies. It's a decision making process that most frequently involves the procurement
(purchasing) of services by either grant-funding or competitive tendering for
contracts (a process of which voluntary and community organisations are frequently a
part).
Commissioning and procurement can seem overwhelmingly complicated at first. This
section aims to take out the element of fear, and give you confidence and knowledge
to become involved in public service commissioning and delivery.

Costings
Cost accounting is a type of accounting process that aims to capture a company's
costs of production by assessing the input costs of each step of production as well as
fixed costs such as depreciation of capital equipment. Cost accounting will first
measure and record these costs individually, then compare input results to output or
actual results to aid company management in measuring financial performance. A
cost is An amount that has to be paid or given up in order to get something. In
business, cost is usually a monetary valuation of effort, material, resources, time and
utilities consumed, risks incurred, and opportunity forgone in production and delivery
of a good or service. All expenses are costs, but not all costs such as those incurred in
acquisition of an income-generating asset are expenses.

Regulatory Issues-Freedom of
information
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 is an Act of Parliament of the Parliament of the
United Kingdom that creates a public right of access to information held by public
authorities. It is the implementation of freedom of information legislation in the
United Kingdom on a national level. The Act implements a manifesto commitment of
the Labour Party in the 1997 general election, developed by Dr David Clark as a 1997
White Paper. The final version of the Act is believed by Ben Robertson to have been
diluted from that proposed while Labour was in opposition. The full provisions of the
act came into force on 1 January 2005.

Trademarks
A trademark serves to exclusively identify a product or service with a specific
company, and is a recognition of that company's ownership of the brand.
Trademarked products are generally considered a form of property. Most countries
have agencies through which businesses can have their products trademarked.
Aardman, has a trademark on the whole of there businesses due to the amount of
thing that they own.
According to Aardmans website they trademark everything that they own, so that
they are covered when it comes to other company's stealing content.

Copyright Law
Copyright is a legal right created by the law of a country that grants the creator of an
original work exclusive rights for its use and distribution. This is usually only for a
limited time. The exclusive rights are not absolute but limited by limitations and
exceptions to copyright law, including fair use. Aardmans has a copyright on there
things that they all produce. Here is a statement from what they have produced:
The content on our site is provided for general information only. It is not intended to
amount to advice on which you should rely. You must obtain professional or specialist
advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our
site. Although we make reasonable efforts to update the information on our site, we
make no representations, warranties or guarantees, whether express or implied, that
the content on our site is accurate, complete or up-to-date.

Health and Safety Policy

All organisations employing five or more people must have a written Health and
Safety Policy statement. The policy should cover all aspects of the organisation and
be relevant to all employees.
A Health and Safety Policy demonstrates how seriously an organisation takes its
health and safety responsibilities. A good policy will show how the organisation
protects those who could be affected by its activities. The policy should be of an
appropriate length and relevance to the activities and size of the organisation.
Aardman especially will have to this health and safety policy, due to the vast amount
of people that they employ.

Trading Standards
Trading Standards is the name given to local authority departments in the UK
formerly known as Weights and Measures. Frequently, the Trading Standards
enforcement functions of a local authority are performed by a small part of a larger
department which enforces a wide range of other legislation: environmental health,
health and safety, licensing and so on. These departments investigate commercial
organisations that trade outside the law or in unethical ways. They attempt to
remedy breaches by advice or by formal enforcement action.
Aardman have strict standards on there Trading Standards due to the large scale of
the company Aardman they have a trading standards officer who deals with the all
the things involved with the job.

Employment Equality (Age)

Regulations 2006
The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 is a piece of secondary legislation
in the United Kingdom, which prohibits employers unreasonably discriminating
against employees on grounds of age. It came into force on October 1, 2006. It is now
superseded by the Equality Act 2010. Aardman has said that It only employs age 18+
and the retirement age for the company is 65 years old.
If an employer gives instructions to an employee to discriminate against another
employee and those instructions are not carried out and that employee is then
subjected to less favourable treatment, this will still constitute discrimination on the
grounds of age.

Professional Bodies
Professional bodies are organisations whose members are individual professionals. In
some professions it is compulsory to be a member of the professional body, in others
it is not. This usually depends on whether or not the profession requires the
professional to have a licence to practice, or to be on a professional register, in
order to do their job. This is related to how the profession is regulated who is
responsible for making sure that professionals are doing their jobs properly.
Many professional bodies are involved in the development and monitoring of
professional educational programs, and the updating of skills, and thus perform
professional certification to indicate that a person possesses qualifications in the
subject area. Sometimes membership of a professional body is synonymous with
certification, though not always. Membership of a professional body, as a legal
requirement, can in some professions form the primary formal basis for gaining entry
to and setting up practice within the profession.

Ethical-Ethical Requirements
Ethical requirements guide individuals and the company to act in an honest and
trustworthy manner in all interactions. These standards should encourage employees
to make the right decisions for the company, not the individual, and give them the
courage to come forward should they notice dishonest and unethical behaviour.
Company programs focused on ethics help lay out company standards and expected
practices as they relate to ethical behaviour and decisions. This can include providing
clear guidance on common ethical dilemmas, such as using the phone at work for
personal long-distance calls or using company software programs for personal
projects.
The purpose with ethical requirements is dealing with morals or the principles of
morality pertaining to right and wrong in conduct, being in accordance with the rules
or standards for right conduct or practice, especially the standards of a profession It
was not considered ethical for physicians to advertise.

Social Issues and Sensitivity

Many factors have contributed to the heightened awareness of sensitive groups and
social issues where marketing is concerned. The article Sensitive Groups and Social
Issues has brought to light the causes, pitfalls, pro-active strategies, and benefits of
addressing these social issues. Due to the fact that consumer markets and values are
constantly changing, it is important to address these issues head on. A few of the key
issues discussed in the article that relate to the text readings are the marketing
concept, social responsibility, and changing demographics. Addressing such issues
will not only satisfy the sensitive and social groups involved, but open new and
potentially profitable opportunities for companies that do so. Aardman have a policy
in place to stop this.

Representation of Gender
What is gender representation?
Essential elements of our own identity, and the identities we assume other people to
have, come from concepts of gender ie what it means to be a boy/girl, man or
woman that are separate from biological differences.
The media in general, and advertising in particular, does not show us the real world.
Even reality TV and the likes of Big Brother represent males and females in certain
ways via the candidates they choose to be on the program All programs, and in our
case advertisements, re-present reality. In putting forward something that is not the
real thing, the media transforms, distorts or re-processes the reality which they
present to us.
In advertising, gender is represented in specific, often very stereotyped ways. Males
and females are show to be certain types of people, possessing certain habits, values
and practices.

Representation of Religious
Beliefs
Religion is a cultural system of behaviours and practices, world views, sacred texts,
holy places, ethics, and societal organisation that relate humanity to what an
anthropologist has called an order of existence. Different religions may or may not
contain various elements, ranging from the divine, sacred things faith, a supernatural
being or supernatural beings or some sort of ultima and transcendence that will
provide norms and power for the rest of life.
Aardman animations has no restrictions on what religion is allowed to work, as
everyone is welcome to work there. An interviewer has to be fair and allow the right
person for the job, no matter what religion or gender e.c.t. may be. The canteen
provides services for every religion needs.

Language and Cultural Issues

Misunderstandings are common among people who speak the same language, so it's
not surprising that people from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds face
communication barriers. Within the media industry its important to understand
different cultural issues and language before anything is done. When creating a
product for the industry it needs to be checked so that there is nothing that will
discriminate anyone. cultural differences in body language and other behaviours can
also cause miscommunications. For example, in the U.S., it is important to make eye
contact with someone who is speaking to you or they may think you are distracted or
uninterested. However, in many Asian countries, eye contact can be a sign of
disrespect or a challenge to authority.
Aardman would of need to make sure that all of their productions were suitable and
also most importantly all of the characters that they were creating would offend
anyone.