Commentary on the Act on Collective Management of Copyright helps apply the act that regulates copyright organisations

The work “Laki tekijänoikeuden yhteishallinnoinnista – kommentaari ja käsikirja” (Act on Collective Management of Copyright – Commentary and Handbook), written by our CEO Valtteri Niiranen and Director Martti Kivistö of Teosto, was published in January. The work sheds light on the Act’s background and sections and serves as a guide for everyone interested in copyright.

The book is the first commentary on the Act on Collective Management of Copyright, which came into force in 2017 and regulates the management of copyright by the Finnish copyright organisations APFI, Filmex, Gramex, Kopiosto, Kuvasto, Sanasto and Teosto.

“Martti Kivistö and I decided to compile our expertise and insights into a handbook and commentary to help those who use and apply the Act,” says Niiranen.

The commentary is an excellent handbook for everyone who is interested in copyright and who encounters the Act on Collective Management of Copyright in their work. It contains a section-by-section analysis of the Act’s content. The analysis follows the Act’s systematics in a practical manner and is based on the Act itself and its working documents, the EU Directive 2014/26/EU and the history of the collective management of copyright. It also includes practical examples of the application of the Act in the operations of collective management organisations.

The Act provides a framework for the collective management of copyright

The Act on Collective Management of Copyright provides for the rights of copyright holders, interest representation, equal representation of various groups of copyright holders in the decision-making of collective management organisations, the rights and obligations of the clients of copyright organisations in relation to the organisations as well as the management of copyright remuneration, among other things.

The Act itself is based on the EU Directive 2014/26/EU, which regulates collective management and standardises the collective management of copyright throughout the EU. Before the Act on Collective Management of Copyright came into force, the operations of Finnish copyright organisations were primarily regulated by the Associations Act. This new Act regulates the organisations’ operations more closely.

The Act on Collective Management of Copyright provides a framework for how the collective management of copyright is run in a collective management organisation that takes the form of an association. When the new Act came into force, it clarified the collective management of copyright, but more information is needed on the application of the Act in practice. The newly published commentary offers this type of information.

 

Text: Sini Kauppila
Photo: Leo Taanila