AUTHORS’ RESOLUTION

Introduced to the Boston AGM October 2010 by the Authors group within IFRRO that met on the 26 October in Boston and concluded:

The authors’ group is aware of the challenges posed by the digital era which require new business models for the exploitation of text and image based works. The authors’ group supports RROs’ initiatives to facilitate the creation of tailored licensing for this new era that is mutually beneficial for authors and publishers. However, the authors’ group is concerned about recent initiatives by the Copyright Clearance Centre and some RROs to enter into traditional business fields of other established collecting societies and by not collective rights management concepts. The authors' group wants to emphasise:

-A rich and diverse cultural life is based on good and trusting partnership between authors and publishers in creating and distributing cultural content,

-Providing easy and efficient access to works through licenses is key to broad recognition of authors rights from users and consumers;

-Authors and publishers jointly have set up collective management systems, the strength of which lies in the gathering of national and international repertoires of specific work categories, tailored licensing tools and solidarity between authors and other right holders when marketing the authors’ rights;

-collectively negotiated licenses and conventions allow better results to be achieved for the authors community as a whole than bargaining by individual rights holders or their agencies;

-users’ requests for easy access to entire repertoires increase with mass use in the digital era. To respond appropriately to market demands close cooperation between authors, rights holders, RROs and the specific collective primary rights management is the right way forward;

-overlapping representation of repertoires within one country or across borders for the same works and rights will lead to lack of transparency in the market and types of competition detrimentalto authors.

Therefore the authors call for the following:

  1. IFRRO members should ensure close cooperation between authors’ repertoires and RROs in the analogue and digital era including cross border uses;
  1. IFRRO members must respect and promote the different roles RROs,authors’ collecting societies and authors’ representative organisations play,by including all parties in their governance in a balanced way, thus facilitating fair and equitable distribution of revenues to authors;
  1. IFRRO members will ensure that there is no interference with traditional collecting societies’ activities – be they in primary rights or in managing statutory licenses - in particular to prevent splitting of repertoires within or across territories, unless expressively supported by the authors concerned;
  1. IFRRO will set up a working group to develop best practice protocols on distribution to authors and publishers.

EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

On an IFRRO authors’ resolution 2010

Rights management of protected works in printed material has undergonemany changes due to legal and technical developments. In Europe,national legislation based on the Berne Convention was altered through the European Directives on copyright that form the acquis communautairesand set the legal framework together with the WIPO treaties from 1996. The advent of the internet and theensuing technical developments present both opportunities and challenges to authors’rights. On one hand, these new technologies provide a means of efficient dissemination of authors’ works for the benefit of society. On the other hand they also constitute challenges for the protection of works. In times where ICT industries, telecoms and consumers claim that authors’ rights would be an obstacle to the development of the digital future, authors and other rights holders might face seeing their rights watered down.Today, authors and publishers are represented by a complex network of organisations including authors’ associations, unions, publisher groups, authors’ collecting societies and RROs. Rights are managed individually or collectively depending on a number of factors:

  • Legal provisions
  • Democratic and individual decisions by authors and rights holders
  • Market structures

Changes in one or several of these factors are likely to impact on the structure of rights management. New business models in the print industries are required to make use of new forms of exploitation of text and image based works. It also opens the doors for new library concepts based on mass digitization and online availability.

Any changes that follow in themanagement of rights should be subject to agreements between all parties involved with the aim of continuingthe successful cooperation between all players. Recognition of successful concepts developed within the authors’ community and their collecting societies should serve as a starting point. Developments causing damage to the sector in general and authors in particular should be prevented.

Fragmentation of repertoires is likely to lead to market distortions and loss of recognition by users, consumers and legislators in the efficiency of authors’ rights as a concept. Authors too can only support decisions on licensing strategies where they have appropriate involvement in decision making processes. New forms of marketing might be misinterpreted as a pretext to exclude authors from fair allocation of revenues.

We therefore urge all IFRRO members to maintain and improve cooperation between authors, publishers, their respective organizations and authors’collecting societies and to strengthen authors’ positions in the digital era within their own governance, within IFRRO and outside.

We encourage all authors to strengthen their influence within their collecting societies and efficiently negotiate the appropriate licenses.

28-10-10