Fees to be Paid for Broadcasting Audio Visual, Musical, and Sound Recording Works in Public.

The Association of Recording Copyright Owners (ARCO) added the guidelines of remuneration for “public performance” of sound recordings. This is based on the newly-added regulation in the Copyright Law amended in 2003 that payment of remuneration for use shall be claimed for “public performance” of a sound recording; that is, fees shall be paid for music broadcast in public regardless of whether it is for profits. Users in all trades, nevertheless, are dissatisfied with this new regulation, complaining that they are charged twice for both music and recording at the same time.

 

To the users’ doubts and questions, the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) recently made an administrative interpretation (under Jhih-Jhu-Zih No. 09416001840) explicating that broadcast of TV programs by hotel, restaurant, and hypermarket owners in business places with TV equipment constitutes the conduct of “public broadcasting”, provided that it is by receiving the signals of TV programs with installed receiver and transmitting signals by their own wire systems and finally for the consumers’ viewing. Likewise, business entities’ receiving the music by wired broadcasting and then transmitting music to the consumers by loudspeakers or other facilities constitutes the conduct of “public performance”. “Public broadcasting” and “public performance” shall be conducted with the copyright holder’s authorization.

 

In regard to the rights arising from the authorization agreement concluded between cable providers or wired broadcasting music providers and hotels, restaurants, and hypermarkets, cable providers that are authorized to broadcast visual audio works in public shall in principle have no rights for the authorization of the music and sound recordings contained in the visual audio works. Hotel owners shall obtain the authorization for “public broadcasting” from the actual right holder (agency or right holder of musical works or sound recordings), according to the IPO.

 

Likewise, wired broadcasting music providers have no right to authorize its users’ “public performance” of the musical and sound recording works. In this regard, owners of hotels, restaurants, and hypermarkets shall be authorized for public performance from the actual right holders. (2005.5)

CYJ/CCS