Creative Rights Organisation
| Organisation des droits intellectuelles et d'auteur | |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 1960 |
| Preceding agency |
|
| Jurisdiction | Gylias |
| Parent department | Ministry of Culture |
| Website | http://www.cro.gov.gls/ |
The Creative Rights Organisation (French reformed: Organisation des droits intellectuelles et d'auteur), abbreviated CRO (ODIA), is the national copyright collective and copyright agency of Gylias.
It administers intellectual rights law in Gylias, with responsibilities including copyright registration, collective rights management, and distribution of royalty payments.
History
The Creative Rights Organisation was established in 1960, through the Law on Intellectual Rights of 1960. It succeeded previously separate organisations for authors, composers, publishers, and directors that handled licensing and royalty payments.
Its responsibilities were extended and reformed by the Law on Cultural Protection of 1992, which reflected the digital revolution, growth of the internet and sampling.
Organisation
It is an administrative agency that reports to the Ministry of Culture.
Responsibilities
Registration and renewal
The CRO has sole responsibility for copyright registration and collective rights management in Gylias. They handle copyright formalities before the publication of a work, including official registration and notices.
It has a specialised office for copyright renewal, which handles renewal of copyright terms. In considering renewal requests, it takes into account creators' financial situation and history, and can refuse renewal if it considers it to be rent-seeking.
Licensing
It administers public copyright licenses and compulsory licenses, including official oversight of fair use, derivative works, and sampling. Public licenses are based on four conditions:
| Icon | Right | Description |
|---|---|---|
|
Attribution (BY) | Licensees must give the author attribution in a specified manner, in exchange for copying, distributing, displaying, and performing the work, or making derivative works or remixes. |
|
Share-alike (SA) | Licensees must distribute derivative works or remixes under a license identical to the original work. |
|
Non-commercial (NC) | Licensees can only copy, distribute, display, and perform the work, or make derivative works or remixes, for non-commercial purposes. |
|
Non-derivative (ND) | Licensees can only copy, distribute, display, and perform the work verbatim, but not make derivative works or remixes. |
The licenses can combine on a spectrum ranging from public domain to BY–SA–NC–ND.
Arbitration
The CRO mediates copyright disputes, and in the event that the parties involved cannot reach an agreement, can intervene and craft a "balanced resolution" that is final and unchallangeable. The threat of CRO intervention ensures that the majority of Gylian copyright disputes are resolved by common agreement.
It grants statutory damages for copyright infringement, which are limited by law, and punishes false copyright claims, which are punishable by law.
It continues to enforce creators' moral rights after a work has entered the public domain.
Payments
The CRO collects license fees for use of copyrighted works and distributes royalty payments to its creators.
All license fees and payments are pooled into a general fund, which is then disbursed to the respective creators through national accounts. The CRO retains 1% of each royalty payment to support its operations, provide financial assistance to creators, and support the work of publishers.
The CRO receives revenues from the blank media tax collected by the National Tax Agency. From these and other sources, it distributes royalty payments to creators for publinet streaming and digital distribution.
Statistics
The CRO collects data about how many copies a work has distributed in total — including paid sales, free distribution, and online distribution.
This information is available to the public on request, but the CRO does not officially certify or award the total distribution figures, nor does it differentiate between paid and free distribution. This has ensured that Gylias does not have official lists or charts of works by sales, a practice shunned due to its capitalist and competitive connotations.
Impact
The CRO has had a substantial contribution and continues to have a fundamental role in Gylian popular culture. It has played a key role in the emergence of Gylias' thriving arts scene and distinctive economic practices in the cultural sphere.
Its favourable attitude towards derivative works and fair use was crucial in the emergence of sampling as an art form and Gylias' remix culture.
The fiercely independent stance and socialistic policies of the CRO have contributed to Gylias' refusal to join any Tyranian copyright agreements, instead favouring bilateral agreements. Its stance has influenced the development of Gylian pirate politics and the foundation of the Pirate Party.