Licensing & Rights Management

Here is how this works in practice. We manage licensing and rights clearance so a production can use music, footage, archive material, images and other third-party content lawfully and without later dispute. Our team identifies what needs clearing, traces rights holders, negotiates licences and secures the written permissions a TV networks, distributor or sites will need. Music clearance in the Czech Republic typically involves OSA, the Ochranný svaz autorský, the music collecting society that administers authors' rights, alongside direct deal-making for synchronisation and master rights. We handle archive and stock footage licences, location and property releases where intellectual property appears on screen, and trademark and brand clearances, keeping a complete rights record so the chain of title is clean.

Here is the short of it. Czech copyright sits within the EU legal framework — the country has been an EU member since 2004 — so rights clearance here aligns with the wider European norms distributors expect, while still needing proper handling of local works and Czech-administered rights. Productions drawing on Czech archive material, including content held by the public TV networks Česká televize, need correctly negotiated terms, and we manage those negotiations.

Here is the breakdown. Clear rights are also a practical need for the Czech film rebates and for delivery, since the State Cinematography Fund and downstream buyers expect a production to show it holds the rights it claims. We set up licensing alongside contract running and talent releases so the full rights picture — music, footage, images, contributors and locations — is documented and consistent before delivery.