AmCham News & Events
Fall 2016 / Issue 51
AmCham News & Events
Fall 2016 / Issue 51
Roundtable: The Real Market
Value of Copyrights
F
or the second time in 2
years, Macedonia’s only
fully functioning collective management society
(that protecting the rights
of composers) recently banned the
use of its members’ musical works
by all local businesses. This time,
the move was made to protest the
proposed tariff model of a competing collective management society
that obtained a license to operate
in the country. Meanwhile, local
television stations are still required
by law to broadcast a minimum of
50% Macedonian music, the Ministry of Culture has issued defensive
press releases claiming government policy in this area is not up
to them and the whole system has
reached an impasse. This recent
series of events demonstrates how
little real dialogue there is between
stakeholders in today’s copyrights
marketplace in Macedonia. Laws
are passed without consulting
stakeholders, copyright users and
artists groups regularly hold press
conferences to air their concerns
and collective management societies rarely appear in public fora
of any kind or agree to meet with
companies to address long-running concerns.
In response, this September,
AmCham Macedonia organized
a roundtable on “The Real Market Value of Copyrights” together
with the Hospitality and Tourism
Association within the Economic
Chamber of Macedonia and the
EU Twinning project “Strengthening
the protection of copyrights.” This
lively discussion included roughly
40 key stakeholders, including
28 AMCHAM MAGAZINE
of collective management societies is to show users precisely what
they are paying for and where their
fees go. She said transparency in
collection and distribution of royalties were both critical elements to
the stability and success of a copyrights management system.
This event was part of
AmCham’s continuing efforts to
help advance the protection of
intellectual property in Macedonia
and was a unique opportunity for
stakeholders to gain perspectives
on current local, regional, global
trends and challenges in the copyrights management field.
Susanna Narsisyan, ArmAuthor
•
Creation of a tariff setting
methodology, based on various
economic parameters and the
current economic situation in
the country to ensure fairness
toward all companies; and
•
The inclusion of a
representative from the
business sector in the Board
of any Copyrights Collective
Management Society.
Ministry of Culture representatives,
companies from sectors that generally pay the highest tariffs for use
of copyrighted material, prominent
law firms working in the IP field
and members of the diplomatic
corps. The discussion was further
enriched by contributions from a
number of notable international
experts, including:
•
Susanna Narsisyan,
Director of ArmAuthor,
Armenia;
•
Slobodan Nešović,
Managing Director, Mascom
EC Beograd, Serbia;
•
Dariusz Urbanski, Ministry
of Culture, Poland; and
•
Janne Hedegaard,
Twinning Advisor (Danish
Patent and Trademark Office).
In the opening, Michelle
Osmanli, AmCham
Macedonia’s Executive
Director, emphasized that a
functional and sustainable
copyright protection framework
is of equal importance to
the country’s development
as is trademark protection.
She further highlighted the
importance of a transparent
tariff setting process
that ensures adequate
compensation for authors as
well as rational and sustainable
costs for local business users.
During the discussion,
a number of business
representatives called for:
•
Increased transparency
and legally-defined deadlines
embedded in the tariff setting
negotiation process;
International experts confirmed
that collective societies are natural
monopolies, particularly in small
markets, thus require a high degree
of oversight and regulation to avoid
abuse of their unique position vis-àvis copyright users (i.e., companies
who use licensed music as part
of their business operations) and
members (i.e., composers). They
pointed out that the collective right
management systems in a number
of EU countries were found lacking
in terms of transparency, which is
why all members began transposing an EU Directive on Collective
Management of Copyright in April
this year.
Ms. Narsisyan pointed out that
without businesses - particularly
broadcasters - authors’ work could
not reach a mass audience. She
said that one of the key functions
Slobodan Nešović, Mascom EC
Janne Hedegaard, EU Twinning Advisor
AMCHAM MAGAZINE
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