Access and Reward in the Information Society: Regulating the Collective Management of Copyright

CIPPM Working paper, 2007

29 Pages Posted: 1 Mar 2016

See all articles by Martin Kretschmer

Martin Kretschmer

University of Glasgow - School of Law

Date Written: February 1, 2007

Abstract

Copyright Collecting Societies have proliferated, with more than 150 organisations now collecting and distributing licensing fees for rights in music, literary, audio-visual and graphic works within the European Union. From the perspective of Competition Law, collecting societies may be viewed as price-fixing cartels under Art. 81 EC, and as vulnerable to challenges under Art. 82 EC (i.e. abusing a dominant position as the sole provider of a management infrastructure to right holders, and as the only supplier of licences to copyright users). Yet, collective administration of copyright has important policy benefits: (i) From a user perspective, collecting societies may offer a single point licence providing easy and wide access to copyright protected contents. This can be a solution to innovation issues in an information society where major right holders otherwise may dictate problematic terms. (ii) Creators at the margins of commercial viability have access to a mechanism of collective bargaining against major rights exploiters, such as publishers, record labels and broadcasters. This may support a culturally diverse society. This article develops principles for regulating the collective management of copyrights from a critique of EC competition jurisprudence.

Note: Various conference versions of this paper have been in circulation since 2005. This version was submitted to a journal in 2007 and rejected. I never got around to revising it but colleagues occasionally cite the paper. So I thought it would be useful to make the latest 2007 version available here. It can be referenced as a CIPPM Working Paper: Centre for Intellectual Property Policy & Management, Bournemouth University, UK.

Keywords: copyright, collecting societies, collective administration, competition, information society

JEL Classification: K21

Suggested Citation

Kretschmer, Martin, Access and Reward in the Information Society: Regulating the Collective Management of Copyright (February 1, 2007). CIPPM Working paper, 2007, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2739837 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2739837

Martin Kretschmer (Contact Author)

University of Glasgow - School of Law ( email )

CREATe, School of Law
10 The Square
Glasgow, G12 8QQ
United Kingdom

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
220
Abstract Views
929
Rank
251,629
PlumX Metrics