Amendments to the Collective Copyright Management Organization Law Adopted in Legislative Yuan – Commentary
Parties wishing to license musical works – for purposes such as playing music on commercial premises, organizing concerts or broadcasting – often encounter difficulties when trying to locate individual composers and negotiate licensing issues. Licence. To solve this problem, Article 81, paragraphs 1 and 2, of the Copyright Law stipulates that owners of economic copyrights and their exclusive licensees may, with the approval of the agency specializing in responsible for copyright matters (i.e., the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO)), establish copyright collective management organizations (CMOs) for the purpose of exercising rights or collect and distribute compensation for use. Many composers entrust the administration of their work to CMOs to streamline negotiations and obtaining the desired authorization.
Currently, CMOs that administer musical works, sound recordings and musical works in Taiwan include:
- Chinese Taipei Music Copyright Society;
- the Asia-Pacific Music Collective Management Association;
- the Taiwan Music Collective Management Association;
- Taiwan Recording Copyright Owners Association; and
- Administrative Society of Copyright and Registration Publications of Chinese Taipei.
Potential exploiters may consult these CMOs regarding various licensing requirements relating to the public performance, broadcast and transmission of musical works, among others.
CMOs are governed by the Copyright Collective Management Organizations Act (the CMOs Act), formerly known as the Copyright Intermediate Organizations Act. The OCM Law was formulated and published on November 5, 1997, and subsequently amended and published on February 10, 2010. In an effort to remedy some disadvantages and residual problems of practical application, another series of draft amendments to the OCM Law was passed the third reading in the Legislative Yuan on April 29, 2022. The amendments aim to improve the operation of CMOs in Taiwan and thereby protect the rights of CMO members and improve the circulation of their works.
Highlights of the changes include:
- the establishment of a public consultation mechanism;
- adding term limits and re-election restrictions for CMO directors and supervisors, and establishing internal control system specifications for personnel, finance, business, and other matters;
- expanding TIPO’s responsibility to guide CMOs’ use of innovative technologies to improve management efficiency and reduce operating costs; and
- the addition of guidance and sanctions by the TIPO when CMOs violate laws and regulations.
The official provisions to be implemented will be the subject of a proclamation by presidential decree.
For more information on this subject, please contact Shih-I Wu at Lee and Li Attorneys at Law by phone (+886 2 2763 8000) or email ([email protected]). The Lee and Li Attorneys at Law website can be accessed at www.leeandli.com.
