Current and Future Challenges in IP Law

The assignment discusses the challenges currently existing in collection societies in IP law, including monopolies, digital makeovers, and changing revenue streams. It highlights how these changes have affected artists' revenue and created difficulties in protecting IP rights. The document also references various academic sources and Acts of Parliament to support its arguments.

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Introduction
Intellectual property is any work which is treated as an asset or physical property. IP involves
design rights, trademarks, patents, and copyrights. The economic framework underpinning the
music industry and other creative industries in the UK is the intellectual property. Copyright on
the hand is the currency framework for such property (Stone, 2009 p.220). In the UK and
globally, any music or recording made can be licensed for value thus generating income.
Licensing ensures that new content is created by providing incentives thus promoting the
creation of new content. Music is created in many forms including film-soundtrack or radio
jingle. Any creative composers of music are protected by copyright laws. Those compensated
also include producers and artists who are sufficiently compensated for their work. When playing
music in public, it has to be cleared, or permission from the holders of the copyright should be
acquired. Permission can be obtained through license or clearing (Alexander & Gómez-
Arostegui, 2016 p. 373).
1. UK IP Law and Music
In the UK, the current law protecting IP rights is the Copyrights, Patent and Design Act of
1988.The act in section 2gives musical artists and producers the right to control how their
materials can be used. The rights cover public performance, lending, and copying, renting and
issuing copies to the public. The author in many cases also has to be acknowledged and can
object any distortion of their musical works. The types of work protected under the act also
include musical score and recordings. The rights protected under the act occur when the work is
created by an artist or company. For work to be considered original, it should exhibit a certain
degree of skill or labor. Interpretation is construed based on the creation itself, not the process or

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idea behind a certain creation. Under the 1988 Act, the person or a group of people who author
the work are the first copyright owners (Toremans, 2009 p.461S).
Copyright can be sold to another person, just like any other asset. If work takes copies or pieces
from another work, copyright cannot be claimed. Films are protected as part of the film
soundtracks which include films and sound as stated in section 5B (2) of the Act.Copyrights for
musical and artistic works according to the 1988 section 12, Copyright, Designs and Patents Act,
lasts for 70 years after the last author of the work dies. For sound recording, the copyright under
section 13 A, lasts for 50 years after the year the sound was recorded. Films are protected under
section 5B (1) of the Act. Infringement of copyright includes authorizing another person to do
any acts which are restricted under the Act as stated under section 16 (3) of the Act. UK is also a
signatory of WIPO, TRIPS and Vienna convention which are international treaties on the
protection of IP rights, these treaties enshrine in them international standards for the protection
of IP, and most of the sections are similar to the Copyrights, Patent, and Design Act of 1988.
2. The role, representation, and processes of UK collection societies
When it comes to sound and recording rights, performing artists are entitled to royalties. When
audio is recorded for release, the label owns the right to the sound recording; hence the royalties
generated are split 50/50 between the artists and the production label. For musicians to get paid,
they rely on royalties generated from licensing copyrighted songs and recordings. As a business,
the music industry relies on such royalties to pay the musicians. There have been many
adjustments to the IP law systems used in licensing, despite the fact that the law has remained the
same over the years. Song writers and performing artists are two types of musicians. Performing
artists hold copyrights to recordings of performances, while song writers own the right to their

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melody, lyrics and a particular piece of music. Songwriters cannot separate melody and lyrics
hence own a song a whole. Both types of artists assign third party management because they
cannot be able to track consumption and usage of their copyrighted material. The copyrights of
the master copy are usually assigned to the label while the copyrights to the song are assigned to
publishers.
In the UK royalty collection systems are Performing Rights Organization (PRS) and MCPS
which work together in the collection of royalties'. PRS collects royalties for works performed or
played. Mechanical Copyright Society (MCPS) collects royalties for copied or played musical
works. The member s of PRS license their musical compositions and lyrics. It is a society for
writers and composers. Licenses can be for broadcasting music on the radio, copying to DVD, or
CD and playing music publicly. Public performance includes the use of music in a bar,
restaurant, Pandora or Spotify. PPL does a similar job as the PRS, but it specifically licenses
music for public use. There is no official process for registration of copyright in the UK. Once
music is produced it is or put in a permanent form, it is considered copyrighted. Once a song is
performed live or broadcast, one should consider joining PRS or MCPS. Soundref is the most
recent player who joined the market to collect royalties in the UK so that artists can have an
option.
Royalties are influenced by copyright law and depend on the contract an artist has with the
distributor or the label. Everyone involved in the creation of an original piece needs to be paid in
some way, according to the royalties Act. Record labels are required to pay royalties to
songwriters and publishers. However the nature of the recording contracts most of the time do
not favor the artists.

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3. The role and effect of royalties on a songwriter or musician's career
Royalties are important in an artist's life because, through royalties, an artist can be able to
continue to produce creative works. An artist can also be able to earn money while pursuing
music as a career through royalties. Royalties act as a return on investment of the artists' time and
energy in producing their works. Throughout the career of an artist or musicians they have to
make important decisions regarding how to copyright their works so that they are not exploited
and at the end make something out of their efforts (Geiger, 2012 p.309). Artists are paid from the
royalties or sales by their record labels. Sometimes cash in advance are paid to artists, from
future royalties expected from their works. This allows the artists to cover their initial costs and
act as living wages. Such royalties allow artists to secure their budgets and have a choice of
materials when they are recording. Artists and musicians receive royalties through different
channels like PRS. Artists signed to a label receive a separate stream from the recording label
(Lambert,2012 p.120).Royalties are crucial in a musicians career because they can fund an artist
in some cases, by giving them a loan to record full albums, which can be repaid once the start
making sales. With royalties, an artist can also make a steady income which will be able to
sustain an artist and even sustain their musical career.
4. Current and future challenges for collection Societies in IP Law
The challenges that currently exist are monopolies which are anticompetitive like seen in the
U.K as announced by European Commission. For a long time artists could only register with
PRS, but with the coming of Sundreef, things might get better. The other challenge facing
collection is the digital make-over, which has made the collection of revenues difficult. The shift
toward digital release and changing of the topography has transformed the industry. Firstly this

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has affected the industry in that it is unbundling when people download one song instead of the
whole album; it affects how the album performs. On-demand streaming services are also said to
negatively impact the royalty collection because it does not give the artists as many royalties as
public performances. To add the wound to injury, record labels make more profits than the
artists. The labels get the major share of the cake, while artists take more shares. Creators make
less money than the intermediaries (Seuba, 217 p.23).
With the digital developments, people are also able to download music easily, thus depriving
artists of their revenue. Consumers get music whenever they want ultimately affecting the artist's
revenue. It has also become very hard to protect IP right with the file-sharing applications and
ways which exist. Therefore, this has changed how musicians make their living. Most of the
money made by the artists is by selling merchandise, games, video games and clothes. Amid all
the changes in the music industry, artists are dealing with many nuances than before when trying
to generate revenue (Song, 2011 p.216).
Despite the fact that the economics of the industry has changed, the industry remains the same
(Calboli, 21 p. 3-19). As artists try to create unique content, they try not to let business get in the
way of their creative process. Similarly, record labels and middleman face the same issues as
they try to promote works by the artists. Eventually, the end game is the same although different
methods are used to get there.

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References
Alexander, I. and Gómez-Arostegui, H.T. eds., 2016. Research Handbook on the History of
Copyright Law. Edward Elgar Publishing
Beldiman, D. ed., 2013. Access to information and knowledge: 21st century challenges in
intellectual property and knowledge
governance. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Calboli, I. and Lee, E. eds., 2014. Trademark Protection and Territoriality Challenges in a
Global Economy. Edward Elgar
Dworkin, G. and Taylor, R.D., 1989. Blackstone's guide to the Copyright, Designs and Patents
Act 1988: the law of copyright and related rights. Blackstone Press.
Geiger, C. ed., 2012. Criminal Enforcement of Intellectual Property: A Handbook of
Contemporary Research. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Lambert, M.J., 2012. Enforcing Intellectual Property Rights: A concise guide for businesses,
innovative and creative individuals. Gower Publishing, Ltd.
Lambert, M.J., 2012. Enforcing Intellectual Property Rights: A concise guide for businesses,
innovative and creative individuals. Gower Publishing, Ltd.
Seuba, X., 2017. The Global Regime for the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights.
Cambridge University Press.

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Song, S.H., 2011. New challenges of Chinese copyright law in the digital age: a comparative
copyright analysis of ISP liability: fair use and sports telecasts. Kluwer Law International.
Stone, P., 2009. Copyright law in the United Kingdom and the European community (Vol. 1).
Burns & Oates.
Torremans, P. ed., 2009. Copyright law: a handbook of contemporary research. Edward Elgar
Publishing.
Publishing.
Acts of Parliament
The United Kingdom Copyrights, Patent and Design Act of 1988