KopinorNews 2002-1

Kopinor News No. 1
Volume 6 Winter 2002
ISSN 1500-0729

THE INTERNET

Kopinor with campaign against illegal use of lyrics etc. on Norwegian web sites

Music enthusiasts in many countries are taking liberties in making copyright protected works available on the Internet without permission. In December 2001 Kopinor started a broad campaign demanding that the owners of approx. 60 Norwegian web sites remove all unauthorised lyrics, tabs and musical notes that they had made available on the Internet. Alternatively, Kopinor offered to assist in clearing the rights. The web site owners were warned that legal action would be taken if they did not comply.

The campaign was initiated at the request of The Norwegian Music Publishers’ Association, and supported in particular by NOPA Norwegian Society of Composers and Lyricists and The Norwegian Society of Composers. All three are member organisations of Kopinor.

Eyvind Skeie (private photo)

– An active composer or songwriter may create 500 works in a lifetime, says Eyvind Skeie, the Vice-Chair of NOPA Norwegian Society of Composers and Lyricists. But maybe only four or five of them become well-known and result in real income for the creator. If only one of these works is made available on the Internet without permission, it may mean substantially reduced income for the creator, says Skeie.

Skeie is a prolific lyricist. He has written many hymns frequently sung in Norwegian churches, songs for children’s programmes on television, and many other types of works. He has found several of his works illegally made available on the Internet.

Monitoring the Net
Kopinor has since 1995 been monitoring the net and has managed to make many web site owners aware of their copyright infringement. This is the first time, however, that a broad campaign has been undertaken, and with a firm warning about possible legal action. The illegal dissemination of lyrics, musical scores, midi-files etc. on the Internet erodes the income basis for rightsholders. Some sites contain many hundred songs and appear to be professional in the sense that they are highly structured or owned by well-known companies or organisations.

In the cases where it has been impossible to find out who are the owners of the sites, Kopinor has successfully directed requests to disable or terminate the sites to the Internet Service Providers (ISPs).

Success so far
By now, nearly all the sites have removed or agreed to remove the illegally used works.

Kopinor is so far only preparing legal action against the owner of one single site. However, "The Internet Archive WaybackMachine" ( http://www.archive.org/index.html) represents an additional challenge. This U.S. web site, beginning in 1996, and without prior permission, stores and makes available the contents of web sites from all over the world. Most of the copyright protected works, which have been removed as a result of Kopinor’s campaign, are also in this archive. Kopinor has now requested that infringing material be removed.

Media attention
The campaign has received quite some attention in the media, and has resulted in heated discussions in news groups, as well as an expected number of angry e-mails. Kopinor will continue the campaign.

THE CHURCH OF NORWAY

Tidying up of sheet music in the archives of church choirs

The reprographic reproduction rights agreement, which Kopinor has entered into with The Church of Norway, requires that the congregations clean up the archives of their choirs.

Extensive archives have been found of unauthorised copies of sheet music, made before the agreement entered into force. Through the agreement, the congregations have committed themselves either to destroy such illegal copies or to clear the right to continued use through Kopinor’s Rights Clearance Service.

The project has been going on since early last year and has resulted in inquiries from some 105 church council for the rights clearance of approximately 6,700 works. (Each council may represent many congregations.) A further 160 councils have reported that they either have destroyed the illegal copies and/or have no material that needs rights clearance. Kopinor still awaits response from nearly 80 councils, while 20 of them have been granted a postponement of this quite extensive task.

Flooded by requests for permissions
Most Norwegian music publishers have mandated Kopinor to clear the rights to use most of these 6,700 works. As a rule, they have offered the congregations to keep their copies of musical works against payment of 50 % of the cost of the original. Kopinor is in the midst of the huge task of identifying the rightsholders and clearing the rights. The remuneration will be paid out individually to the rightsholders.

The project has been met with positive responses from organists, choirmasters and others involved, who presumably now have a better conscience. It has clearly resulted in an increased, positive awareness of copyright among these important groups of users. And most important, music publishers report that the sale of church music has gone up significantly.

International activities

IFRRO Africa Workshop in Cape Town 17 October 2001.
In connection with IFRRO’s Annual General, IFRRO's Working Group for Africa and the Middle East organised a pre-AGM Africa Workshop. Gathered at the workshop were over 40 delegates, most from the states of Benin, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Togo and Zimbabwe. A number of interesting papers were presented and discussed, focusing on the challenges of piracy and unauthorised copying and other copyright matters on the African continent. The participants also shared their experiences in building up reproduction rights organisations. On behalf of IFRRO’s Working Group, its Chair, Kopinor’s Executive Director John-Willy Rudolph, extends a word of thanks to each and all participants. Photos of the event can be seen on Kopinor’s web site.

Visit from Malawi and Mozambique.
Mr. Rosario Kamanga of the Copyright Society of Malawi (COSOMA) and Mr. Alfredo Chissano of Sociedade Moçambicana de Autores (SOMAS) spent a week in Norway last November to study the operations of Kopinor.

Visits from Zimbabwe and Namibia.
Kopinor has also had the pleasure to welcome for shorter stays in Oslo Ms. Chiedza Musengezi, the Chair of ZimCopy and Ms. Nepeti Nicanor, Vice Chair of the Namibia Book Development Council.

New IFRRO Secretary General.
New IFRRO Secretary General. Kopinor welcomes Veronica Williams to the post as Secretary General of the International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organisations headquartered in Brussels. She is from Rumania, a Belgian citizen, and a lawyer with extensive international experience. She began work on February 4th.

Staff news

• John-Willy Rudolph turned 60 on October 2nd 2001. Business acquaintances, employees and family celebrated the occasion at a reception held by Kopinor.
• In November last year, Licensing Officer Hege Døssland gave birth to her daughter Hedda. She is on maternity leave this year and Harald Sommerstad is replacing her during this period.

Edited by J.W. Rudolph
February 2002