Law on Cultural Protection of 1992

Law on Cultural Protection of 1992
Gylian Parliament
Date passed	11 May 1992
Date signed	11 May 1992
Date commenced	25 May 1992
Summary
Regulates intellectual rights.
Status: Current legislation

The Law on Cultural Protection of 1992 is a Gylian federal law that defines the framework of intellectual rights. It complements and expands the Law on Intellectual Rights of 1960. Together, both laws have had a significant impact on Gylian society, culture, and foreign reputation.

Background

The law was prompted by the digital revolution's effect on popular culture, particularly the maturation of internet policy and sampling as an artistic tool.

Within the Mathilde Vieira government, the New Alliance for the Future strongly supported amending and updating the Law on Intellectual Rights of 1960 to account for contemporary developments. The LSD Party and Love, Nature, Democracy also provided strong support from outside the government. Initially intended to be an amendment, the proposed update became a separate law.

The Gylian Parliament carried out formal consultations on sampling in 1991–1992. A focal point of the consultations was the invitation of musicians to provide expert testimony to the Permanent Committee on Culture, Arts and Leisure, including Stella Star, the Beastie Boys, Pop Will Eat Itself, and the Rubber Band.

The law was drafted based on these consultations, approved by referendum, and passed by Parliament in May 1992.

Text of the law

1. This law shall clarify the regime surrounding intellectual rights and derivative works in Gylias, based on the principles of the Law on Intellectual Rights of 1960.
2. The Creative Rights Organisation devises a new system of public licenses and compulsory licenses to better account for the different intellectual rights being administered.
3. Sampling — understood as the reuse and manipulation of sound recordings for new works — is recognised as a special class of derivative work. It enjoys the same intellectual rights, and special ones as necessary.
4. An official system for licensing and regulating sampling is established. In the event of conflict between original author and sampling author, the balanced resolution will be based on the public good.
5. Special protections will be afforded to performers who use sampling and derivative works as the basis of their work. These include DJs — understood as musicians who physically manipulate recordings to produce new sounds — and remixers.
6. Digital reproduction of works, remixing of works, and distribution of remixes is subject to compulsory license.

Effects

The law contains more explicit protections of derivative works and particularly sampling, reflecting the digital revolution. It resulted in the replacement of the old copyright registration system with a more specialised one based on public licenses, which could now reflect a broader spectrum than simply public domain or no.

The acknowledgement of remixes lent official support for remix culture, incentivising its growth. The law inspired the practice of using copyleft and "All rights reversed" (or "All wrongs reversed") as parodic inversions of the concept of "copyright". Together with the symbol, they became popular inclusions after official copyright notices, signifying authors' support of remix culture.

The law, together with its 1960 prececessor, are credited with contributing significantly to the "Gylian Magnet" phenomenon, reinforcing Gylias' reputation as a "land of musicians and artists" by establishing an artist-friendly legal framework with an effortless and efficient system of licenses administered by the CRO. The Law on Cultural Protection arguably contributed more to the phenomenon through its generous terms of compulsory licensing, clear support of sampling as an artistic practice, and far-sighted provisions regarding digital reproduction, which formed the basis of digital distribution through the publinet. In particular, numerous Tyranian hip hop acts have recorded in Gylias specifically to take advantage of the easier sampling process.

One unexpected effect of the law came from the legal definition of DJs in turntablism terms. This officially superseded the previous use of "disc jockey" to mean those who played recorded music for a live audience. The Ministry of Labour introduced occupational licensing for DJs, while those who played music for a live audience without physically manipulating it (such as in nightclubs or radio presenters) were now named "selectors". Several Gylian musicians jokingly acknowledged the new legal regime in album titles and artwork that alluded to the official DJ licenses.