A PYMNTS Company

Copyright collecting and services groups’ operational agreement authorized by ACCC

By  |  April 6, 2012

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has proposed to authorize a service agreement between Viscopy and Copyright Agency for a five-year term. The two parties are not-for-profit copyright collecting groups for visual artists and art licensees. Under the terms of the agreement, Copyright Agency will manage and administer the day-to-day operations of Viscopy’s business. ACCC Chairman Rod Sims views the agreement as having the effect of “significant cost savings to artists and licensees, and operational efficiencies for the administration of copyright licensing.” The agreement will be authorized not only for its benefits, but also because Viscopy and Copyright Agency are not competitors: Viscopy members tend to be fine artists, photographers and cartoonists, while members of Copyright Agency are authors, journalists, and publishers.

Full content: ACCC Press Release

 

Related content: The European Commission’s Reexamination of the SonyBMG Merger: A Precedent-Setting Attempt to Jump the Fence (Ben Van Rompuy & Caroline Pauwels, Institute for European Studies)