Statutory Licenses as Enabler of Creative Uses

Abstract

In order to enable future creativity, some uses are traditionally kept outside the control of the right owner through limitations to the exclusive right. Uses covered by a limitation can lead to an obligation to pay a fair remuneration to the creator. In these cases, these “limitation-based remuneration rights” are often called “statutory licenses”. As these remunerations can provide significant revenues for creators, they constitute interesting tools for legislators in order to avoid the blocking effect of exclusivity, while at the same time ensuring that the creator can participate fairly in the creative reuse of their works. However, this option has so far been given relatively little consideration in the context of derivative works. This chapter is intended to fill that gap, exploring whether statutory licenses can offer a satisfying mechanism to enable and incentivize creative uses of copyrighted works.

Keywords: Limitations to copyright, freedom of expression and freedom to create, remuneration, statutory licenses, creator protection, creative use, derivative works