News & Media

James Burchett QC to Review Code of Conduct for Copyright Collecting Societies

Former Justice of the Federal Court of Australia and former President of the Copyright Tribunal Mr. J C S (James) Burchett QC is to be the independent reviewer of the Code of Conduct of Australian Collecting Societies.

Mr. Burchett will prepare annually a report on compliance generally by Copyright Societies with this Code. His report will be publicly available, including on the websites of each of the collecting societies, where the Code of Conduct can also be found. His appointment is for an initial three-year period as recommended by the Code.

The Code of Conduct was developed to assist in ensuring clear expectations in dealings between collecting societies and their members and licensees. The development of the Code of Conduct followed recommendations made in the Review of Australian Copyright Collecting Societies, conducted by Shane Simpson.

The Code incorporates submissions and comments made at a forum hosted by the federal government in September 2001. The forum was attended by over 50 stakeholders including creators, education representatives, copyright owners, licensees and user interests.

Speaking in Sydney today on behalf of the collecting societies, the chief executive of APRA Brett Cottle said the Code will be “instrumental in advancing the standard of licensing practices and will serve as an industry benchmark for organisational conduct, information sharing and dispute resolution amongst collecting societies.

“We would like to acknowledge the helpful assistance of Attorney-General Williams, Senator Alston and their departments in the development of the Code, particularly in hosting the forum to ensure the expectations of all stakeholders could be met,” Brett Cottle said.

PPCAs chief executive officer, Stephen Peach continues,  “The code has clearly provided increased confidence in the role and value of Australian copyright collecting societies and we welcome the appointment of Mr. Burchett”.

This is a joint statement from the following collecting societies, whose boards have all endorsed and adopted the Code of Conduct:

APRA                     Australasian Performing Right Association Limited
AMCOS                  Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society
PPCA                     Phonographic Performance Company of Australia
Screenrights           Audio-visual copyright society
CAL                       Copyright Agency Limited
VI$COPY                Visual Arts Copyright Collecting Society
ASDACS                 Australian Screen Directors Authorship Collecting Society
AWGACS               Australian Writers’ Guild Authorship Collecting Society

For further information:    

    
Media Contact - PPCA
Ph (02) 8569 1100