Dutch Independent Arbitration Commission for Copyrights starting today

As of today (1 November 2011), the Dutch Independent Arbitration Commission for Copyrights starts its activities. Disputes about fees for copyrights or related rights now can be brought before the Arbitration Commission.

The person who submits a dispute must first complete the regular complaint procedure offered by the relevant collecting society. Within two months, the collecting society has to make a decision. In case the person does not agree with this decision, he or she can appeal the decision at the Independent Arbitration Commission for Copyrights.

However, it is not possible to appeal all the collecting societies’s decisions at the Commission. For example, if the dispute is about a bill of more than € 100.000 or about the fairness of the amount of the charged fees, the Commission is not competent according to Article 5 of the Commission’s regulation.

The launch of the Independent Arbitration Commission Copyright is an initiative of the 'workgroup Pastors' (set up by the Dutch Society of Organizations that collectively exploit Intellectual Propery Rights) to improve the debt collection of copyright fees and is established in consultation with the Ministry of Justice and the businesses.

You can read the regulation of the Dutch Independent Arbitration Commission for Copyrights here.

Reference: Voice-info.nl

By: Karen Groen