media and entertainment

Bowman Gilfillan’s Entertainment Media Law focus group was established in response to a demand for legal excellence in these areas on the part of our existing clients, and the market place as a whole. This demand, in turn, was triggered largely as a result of South Africa’s re-entry into the international community post-1994 and the increased rewards being earned by South Africans in the field of entertainment and media.

With increased use of the internet as a forum for publication, Bowman Gilfillan has developed the expertise to meet new challenges posed by this phenomenon. By way of example, Bowman Gilfillan brought the first urgent application in this country which secured the shut down of an international website owing to its publication of compromising photographs of an international celebrity. Within hours of the client becoming aware of the threat of publication, the firm’s experts put together an urgent application in two cities required to ensure that the violation of the client’s privacy was terminated.

Since then, Bowman Gilfillan’s experts have assisted a senior member of the Bar (and occasionally Acting Judge) whose reputation was attacked on a website consisting thousands of pages of damaging commentary.

Our experts continue to be involved in the monitoring of publications and enforcement of rights in relation to publications in print, visual and electronic media.

Bowman Gilfillan has also developed sought after expertise in the music and recording industry. Aside from representing the South African Music Rights Organization (SAMRO) (the body charged with collection and distribution of artists’ royalties in South Africa), the firm represents recording artists, recording labels and studios and performers generally. The firm’s experts have worked on recording agreements with labels such as Warner Records, Walt Disney Recordings and Purple Eye Entertainment of the Netherlands. The skills and experience developed in this regard are truly rare, this area of expertise having previously fallen within the hands of specialised firms only.

Our people are excited by the challenges that have been presented to them in the area of Entertainment and Media Law. This enthusiasm, specialised knowledge and ability to conceive of innovative solutions to novel problems, is what ensures that our clients in the area of entertainment and media law have access to the best possible advice at all times.