Cc-uk mailing list

[Edward Barrow <edward AT copyweb.co.uk>]

There are two aspects to this issue: whether  CC licences are legally 
compatible with collecting society membership; and whether collecting 
societies are themselves sympathetic to CC aims.

The answer to the first question will vary by society. The musical societies 
in the UK tend to take an assignment of the performance or mechanical rights 
from their members, hence there may be some incompatibilities with CC 
licences.

The Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA) - see declaration of interest below - 
takes only non-exclusive licences from the authors and publishers who via the 
Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) and the Publishers Licensing 
Society (PLS) respectively grant it the authority to issue licences. There is 
therefore unlikely to be any legal incompatibility between the CC licences 
and membership of ALCS or PLS; however, for a fuller answer the ALCS Mem and 
Arts  and membership form should be examined in detail against the CC 
licences. 

As to the second question, the societies themselves will not have any formal 
position on the Creative Commons, although there are many individuals within 
the societies who are sympathetic, and I can recall at least one private 
conversation along the lines of, "We should have done something like that 
first". However, the societies do represent primarily people who *make a 
living* from creating new content; whilst all support wider and simpler 
access to that content, it is far from clear that the Creative Commons model 
yet provides a satisfactory method of putting bread on the author's table, or 
providing a return on the editorial investment made by publishers. 

Nevertheless, I am quite sure that the UK societies would welcome the 
opportunity to work together with CC  where appropriate - for example, on 
issues such as copyright awareness, copyright education, and resolving 
licence incompatibilities.
 

**Declaration and Disclaimer**
I advise the Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA), the UK's collective management 
organisation for reprographic copying of books and journals.
This reply is my own position and does not reflect any position  CLA might 
hold, nor is it being made at the instigation of CLA or in connection with 
any work I am doing for CLA.
-- 
Edward Barrow
Copyright Consultant
edward AT copyweb.co.uk
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