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STATUS OF COPYRIGHT MANAGEMENT BODIES EXISTING PRIOR TO COPYRIGHT INTERMEDIARY ORGANIZATIONS ACT
Prior to the enactment of the Copyright Intermediary Organizations Act (CIOA), many copyright holders joined associations or other bodies that managed their copyrights. Since the Act took effect, disputes have arisen from time to time over whether such a body, if it did not apply to establish a copyright intermediary organization under the Act, may continue to manage the economic rights of rights holders that joined the body before the Act took effect.
In a recent interpretation, the Intellectual Property Office noted that the proviso to Article 43 Paragraph 1 of the CIOA provides that if a body was already managing economic rights in copyright works for economic rights holders before the Act took effect, it may continue to handle such affairs as it was already managing and have not yet been concluded. Therefore, if such a body was already managing economic rights in a work for an economic rights holder before the Act took effect, it may naturally continue, on the economic rights holder's behalf, to collect and distribute royalties already arising before the Act took effect. However, the Act entitles an intermediary organization to collect only "management fees" from its members, and makes no reference to "donations" or other categories of income. Therefore, if a body as described above also collects other fees, these should be handled according to the provisions of other legislation.