Australian Copyright Royalty Societies and a Call For New Guidelines

Tyrone Berger, Monash University, has published Copyright, Collecting Societies and the ACCC: Call For (New) Guidelines, at 23 Australian Interllectual Property Law Bulletin 237 (2011). Here is the abstract.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) released draft guidelines on copyright licensing and collecting societies in November 2006 for public comment. The purpose of the guidelines was to provide general information to potential licensees and users of copyright material. At the same time, amendments to the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth), which received royal assent on 11 December 2006, meant that the Copyright Tribunal of Australia (the Tribunal) may have regard to ACCC guidelines (if any). After four years since the release of the draft guidelines, this author argues that it is time for a new set of guidelines to clarify and explain their purpose, and to take into consideration that licensees are often in an unequal bargaining position when it comes to negotiating a licence scheme or arrangement with collecting societies.

Download the article from SSRN at the link.