1997-2

Kopinor News No. 2 Volume 1
Autumn 1997
ISSN 1500-0729

Olav Stokkmo to Brussels:

IFRRO's New Secretary-General

Olav Stokkmo (Photo: Kjell Gripstad)

Kopinor's Assistant Executive Director Olav Stokkmo has been appointed the new Secretary-General of the International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organisations ( IFRRO). He will take up his new position on 1 January 1998 in Brussels, where IFRRO's secretariat will be located.

Stokkmo (44) has been the Assistant Executive Director of Kopinor for the past nine years. He has a degree in business administration as well as an MA in history. Among his varied work experience is an eight-year period as Head of Negotiations in one of the main labour organisations in Norway. In Kopinor, Stokkmo has been in charge of personnel, finances and office administration, and has served as the Secretary of Kopinor's Board of Distribution. He has also been responsible for managing major photocopying agreements in the fields of education, public administration and trade and industry. Over the years, Stokkmo has contributed very actively internationally, among other things serving as the chairperson of the IFRRO Committee for Latin America and the Caribbean and as Kopinor's representative in the European Group of IFRRO.

The Stokkmo family is truly cosmopolitan. Olav met his wife Marirosa, a teacher, when studying in France. They have three children. The family spends some time every summer in Cagliari on Sardinia, the home town of Olav's Italian wife. "Olav will be hard to replace. But we're convinced that IFRRO will benefit greatly from his personal qualities, varied experiences, international outlook and language proficiency when he takes over as Secretary-General," says Trygve Moe, Chairman of Kopinor's Executive Board.

Moral Rights:

The EC Castigates the US

On 29 July The European Commission released its 1997 Report on United States Barriers to Trade and Investment in Brussels.

The Commission touches on several intellectual property issues. In one segment the EC criticises the U.S. government for refusing to implement Article 6bis of the Berne Convention (on moral rights). Despite acceding to the Convention in 1989, moral rights have not been introduced into US legislation. The report states that this creates an imbalance in rights to the detriment of the EU rightsholders.

Denmark:

Digital Copying Legislation Proposed

Denmark is the first country out to propose extended collective agreement licence legislation for digital copying.

The proposal is parallel to the legislation which exists regarding reprographic reproduction for education and internal, institutional uses in all the Nordic countries. The proposal is part of the recent draft amendments to the Danish Copyright Law introduced in connection with the implementation of the EC Directive on databases in Denmark.

If the proposal is accepted, users who enter into agreements on digital copying with a collective organisation may, within the limits of the agree ments also make use of digital copies created by rightsholders who are not directly represented by the relevant organisation. The proposal envisages specific roles for libraries in providing copies.

The Norwegian Copyright Commission spoke in favour of an extended collective licence concerning digital copying already in 1988. (English translation of this part of the commission's report can be provided by Kopinor.) The Nordic governments co-operate in the field of copyright legislation. When the Norwegian government subsequently brought the proposal to the attention of the other Nordic governments, they at that time balked, and adoption into Norwegian law was postponed.

In several comments to Norwegian draft legislation over the years Kopinor has supported the introduction of such a licence, maintaining that it would give rightsholders' and their collective management organisations the best basis for negotiating agreements on this kind of duplication which is rapidly spreading in all areas of society. (See "The Challenge of Closed Digital Networks" in Kopinor News no.1.)

Copyright information from " Clara":

Norwegian Rights Clearance Information to Appear on the Web

The Norwegian rights organisations BONO (visual arts), LINO (literary works), NORWACO (cable TV etc.), TONO (performance and recording of musical works), and KOPINOR have established the "Clara" project.

Through a joint website the organisations want to give easy access to information about rights, rightsholders organisations and licensing to users of all types of copyright material, including those who need to acquire rights to already existing works for use in new multimedia productions. A major challenge will be to create links to relevant organisations which either can clear rights or assist users in establishing direct contact with individual rightsholder. Major parts of the information will appear in English as well as in Norwegian. The launching of the joint website will hopefully take place towards the end of 1997.

Eventually, "Clara" intends to link up with similar projects and organisations in other countries.

Hot topic:

Linking on the Internet

During the long and - for once - hot Norwegian summer of 1997 one copyright topic has occurred constantly in the media: the possible legal responsibility when introducing links to sites with copyright material published without authorisation on one's Internet home page.

Although the question is relevant in connection with all types of protected works, this particular discussion started when TONO, the Norwegian music performance rights organisation, contacted a number of people who on their home pages had established links to sites with unauthorised soundtracks on the Internet. TONO claimed that this kind of linking was tantamount to reproducing and distributing copies of the soundtracks and demanded that the links be removed from the relevant sites immediately. If the request was not met, TONO demanded that the Internet Service Provider (ISP) take action.

Professor Jon Bing, one of Norway's foremost experts on computers and law, came out in support of TONO. The ISP, on the other hand, produced a legal opinion from a renowned law firm exonerating the ISP from any responsibility. Not surprisingly, this triggered off a fierce debate between the home page owners, the Internet Service Providers, TONO and legal experts.

Even if the dispute has not yet been resolved, one important effect of the debate is its impact on the general public: Slowly people are coming to terms with the fact that disseminating works on the Internet is an act of publishing and that the permission of the rightsholder is required in order to do so. This is a serviceable starting point when rightsholders and their organisations join forces to create practical licensing solutions for digital duplication of works.

Responses to Kopinor News:

A Word of Thanks

We are most grateful for the many responses we have received as a result of the first issue of our new English newsletter. Please feel free to contact us if you want multiple copies sent to you e.g. for distribution to your board. Names and addresses of persons you think may find our newsletter interesting are also welcome.

1 September 1997
Edited by J. W. Rudolph/Else Lie