What is collective copyright management?

Collective management organization manages rights granted by Ministery of Culture of the Czech Republic . This management always concerns a certian group of authors (composers, authors of fine art etc.). OAZA was entrusted with the exercise of collective management of rights of sound engineers/sound designers. In the Czech Republic, only a few organizations (OSA, OOA-S, INTERGRAM, DILIA, GESTOR, OAZA) received this authorization, and OAZA was granted the authorization in November 2006. You can view the permissions of all collective management organizations on the website of the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic. here The Collective management organization disposes of many competences by law. The exercise of certain rights is carried out by a so-called legal representative, i.e for the benefit of all authors (in the case of OAZA sound egineers). In other words, OAZA collects rewards for the benefit of all sound engineers who are then legally represented, even though they have not negotiated any contract with OAZA. On the other hand, the collected rewards must be distributed by OAZA to all authors who register their share and meet the requirements of the law and the OAZA Distribution rules (see below). For this reason, this collective management of rights is considered to be mandatory, the author ( sound engineer) can not choose whether or not to be represented by OAZA. In the case of this group of rights, OAZA represents all authors, their heirs or other right holders (e.g. under a license agreement). OAZA, under mandatory collective management, collects royalties for the benefit of all creators of these rights: –

a. the right to rewards of sound engineers from the sale or import of blank media (CD, DVD, USB, etc.) – so-called blank media and from the sale or import of audiovisual equipment (apparatus)

b. the right to rewards of sound engineers from (video) lending,

c. licensing the use of sound engineers´works during cable transmission.

A similar regime of mandatory rights management (so-called extended collective administration) also recognizes another right to conduct radio and television broadcasting (payment of rewards from restaurant and hotel operators or business operators if they make TV or radio broadcasting available to their guests and customers). Other rights that do not fall under the above mandatory management, the collective management organization only manages for those authors who negotiate a representation greement with OAZA (voluntary collective administration). These rights are: –

a. the right to reproduction of works of sound engineers,-

b. the right to expansion of works of sound engineers,-

c. the right to make available the works of sound engineers to the public by computer and similar networks,-

d. the right to non-theatrical broadcasting of works of sound engineers live or from record and transmission of broadcastíng,-

e. the right to broadcast works of sound engineers on radio and television

Collective management of rights can not be managed as a business, collective management organization cannot make a profit. From the collected rewards, only the means necessary to manage this collective administration (wages of employees, lawyers, rent, services, etc.) are deducted.

Powers and obligations of the collective management organization

The collective management organization, according to the Copyright Act, enjoys some important rights but is also obliged to fulfill a number of obligations. Among other things, OAZA may or must: –

a) represent sound engineers in the exercise of their rights collectively managed by law or under the treaties, on equal terms,

b) keep a list of sound engineers contracted by OAZA,

c) keep a list of OAZA sound engineers registered for records,

d) keep a list of right holders to orphaned protection subjects , if these right holders are known

e) keep a list of protection subjects to which collectively manages the rights, if these subject are known, –

f) keep a list of orphaned protection subject to which manages the rights, if these subject are known,-

g) on the basis of a reasoned request to provide an information by electronic means to the collective management organization for whom it manages the rights under the contract pursuant to § 97g, to the rightholder or the user without unnecessary delay

about the repertoire it manages, and if the objects of protection cannot be determined individually in relation to their number, identify them in a generic manner,
about the rights it manages, either directly or under contracts between collective management organizations, and about the territory to which the report relates,
whether and to what extent it manages a collective management for a particular rightholder.

h) once a year for the preceding calendar year, provide information by electronic means to another collective management organization for whom it manages the rights, on

the total amount of income from the exercise of rights collected on the basis of a contract concluded between the collecting societies and the amounts paid to the relevant collective management organization under this contract, broken down by category of rights and mode of use,-
the total amount of income under the preceding item, which have not yet been paid to the relevant collective management organization,-
deductions to cover the costs of managing rights,-
any other deductions made, indicating their purpose,-
the number of all licenses to exercise the rights for distribution by category of managed rights which it has granted or refused to grant in respect of the repertoire covered by a contract concluded between the collecting societies,-
decisions taken by the highest authority where they relate to the management of rights under a contract concluded between collective management organizations.-

i) the collective management organization is obliged-

1. to collect inccome from the exercise of rights for rightholders,-
2. to claim, in his own name, on behalf of the rightholders the right to a compensation of damage, the claim to obtain unjust enrichment from unauthorized exercise of a collectively administered right, and the right to withhold unauthorized exercise of the collectively administered right unless the rightholder, if entitled to claim such claim, alone or it is uneconomic,-
3. to divide and pay out income from the exercise of rights and income from investing in the exercise of rights to relevant rightholders ,-
4. if providing social, cultural or educational services funded by income from the exercise of rights or revenue from the investment of the exercise of rights, to provide them on the basis of fair and transparent criteria guaranteeing equal access to such services and the provided extent of such services;-
5. to create the distribution rules and, in accordance with it, from the collected royalties from the exercise of the rights to create a reserve fund.-

j) conclude contracts with users, with persons authorized to defend the interests of associated users or with persons representing users according to the Library act, who use the subjects of protection in the same or similar way, on equal terms and on the basis of objective facts, for the user, (contracts) which-

1. grant the right to exercise the right to use the subjcets of protection to which this right collectively manages, –
2. negotiate the amount and method of payment of remuneration and monitor their fulfillment,or-
3. negotiate the method of payment of the royalties stipulated by this Act.

k) claim compensation damages and claim entitlement to unjust enrichment from unauthorized exercise of a collectively administered right,

l) claim to refrain from unauthorized exercise of a collectively administered right,

m) collect, distribute and pay out royalties for sound engineers in accordance with the law and contracts and the Distribution rules,

n) keep a record of collected rewards and incomes from issued unjust enrichment and enable sound engineers to check the accuracy of the remuneration paid,

o) create a Reserve fund from collected rewards,

p) prepare the audited financial statements, audit it and submit it, including the auditor’s report, to the Ministry without undue delay, after verification and approval by the supreme body of OAZA (General assembly),

q) prepare, by June 30 of each year, an Annual activity and management report for the past calendar year, including also the regular financial statement and the auditor’s report; the Annual report must contain a complete and true description of all the relevant facts and must be given access to the rightholders,

r) publish the regular financial statement, including the auditor’s report, without unnecessary delay, from its version in the Federal register

s) publish the proposal of the amount of the rewards or the way of their determination (the so-called Rates of reward).for each of the ways of using the subject of protection.

Note: this is not a complete list of the rights and responsibilities of the collective management organization!

Users of protection´s subject are obliged to enable the collective management organization a regular exercise of collective management and without serious reasons for the collective organization not to refuse to provide the necessary information. The collective management organization may not use the information identified in the control activity for any purpose other than the exercise of the collective management The collective management organization is entitled to control the proper and timely fulfillment of contracts entered into by it in the exercise of collective management; users of protection´s subject or other participants in such contracts are obliged to allow the collective management organization to do so.

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