7. Rightsholder and User Issues
A. Rightsholder Issues (continued)
Consortia require that their members have interests that are aligned with a given consortium’s goals, and are willing to share–financially, legally, and administratively–in supporting the consortium. Providers that have a founding relationship with a parent organization may require that all members belong to the parent organization as well. The Media Photographers Copyright Association, for example, requires its rightsholders to be members of its parent organization, the American Society of Media Photographers.
Rightsholders must offer warranties to service providers guaranteeing that they are the legal copyright owner for the intellectual property. These warranties usually take the form of contractual guarantees certifying that the rights they hold are unencumbered (except where explicitly stated), that the work does not infringe on the copyright, trademark, patent, privacy, or publicity of any person or entity, and that the content does not defame any person or entity. Some providers require additional warranties stating that the rightsholder is free to enter into an agreement with the service provider without violating any other agreements. This practice is frequent among stock photography agencies, where exclusive rights contracts are commonplace. Warranties may need to be backed up by indemnification clauses and insurance policies to cover breaches should the warranties prove invalid.
In addition to meeting certain criteria and providing appropriate warranties, rightsholders may also be charged a fee to join a service provider’s organization. Frequently these fees are token amounts (ASCAP and the Authors Registry both have a $10 membership fee) but they can be significant contributions, particularly for consortium members whose fees are often the major source of financial support for all activities. Fees may be proportional to the size of an institution (as determined by factors such as operating budget, number of employees or members, etc.) or may be a fixed rate for all participants.