10. Another Perspective

B. Options for Administration of Intellectual Property Rights in
CCCanadian Cultural Heritage Institutions (continued)

Other Collective Societies

The Copyright Act also provides for collective societies, associations, or corporations that are not performing rights societies or retransmission rights societies. In general, these other types of collective societies may administer copyright and operate a licensing scheme for their particular repertoire of works. They are free to enter into licensing agreements in any form, but they must offer blanket licenses as well as transactional or individual licenses for the use of a work. The Copyright Board does not impose royalty rates on these collecting societies, but does act as an arbitration panel when a collective licensing body and a prospective user cannot agree on rates or related terms and conditions of the licensing agreement.11

The collective is responsible for redistributing the royalties collected to its membership. Redistribution is based upon specified formulas devised to obtain fair remuneration for the author. These formulas may or may not depend on the exact use of the author’s work. Depending on the by-laws of the collective society, redistribution formulas may also ensure that remuneration is split equitably among the members of the collective society. In all cases, a certain percentage of the royalties collected is used to cover administrative costs incurred in managing the collective.

Many other rights-related associations do not issue licenses or collect and redistribute royalties, but have an impact upon the collective administration environment by fulfilling a lobbying function on behalf of certain groups, or by serving as quasi-collective societies. An example is the Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency (CMRRA), which acts as an agent for music publishers. CMRRA can negotiate individual licensing agreements on behalf of its members and can clear the rights to musical works held by members. However it functions primarily as an agent, and the law of agency imposes different responsibilities on it and provides different protections for the agents’ clients.12

Introduction to
Managing Digital Assets