If you wish to be paid Screenrights royalties, you will need to ensure that your agreements provide for this. Read below to learn more about the contract clauses that grant the rights to claim Screenrights royalties.
SEEK YOUR OWN LEGAL ADVICE
The clauses and information contained on this page are provided only for the purposes of highlighting relevant legal considerations. They should not be relied on as a substitute for legal advice. Before acting on any matter, you should obtain legal advice from a qualified legal practitioner. Screenrights accepts no liability for any loss caused by reliance on the clauses and information contained below.
SCREENRIGHTS ROYALTIES IN CONTRACTS
Screenrights collects and pays certain secondary royalties in Australia and New Zealand. Screenrights pays the following types of royalties:
- Australian educational copying royalties
- Australian educational communication royalties
- Australian retransmission royalties
- Australian government copying royalties
- New Zealand educational copying royalties
- New Zealand educational communication royalties
See here for more information about the royalties Screenrights collects and distributes.
Screenrights also has arrangements in place with international copyright collection societies to collect certain secondary royalties for the rights they administer. These societies hold the following types of royalties:
- Retransmission royalties
- Private Copying levies/royalties
- Other Copying (Educational) royalties
- Public Lending royalties
- Public Performance royalties
If you wish to be paid any of the above secondary royalties for a particular program, you will need to ensure that your agreements provide you with the relevant rights. We have included some sample contract clauses below to highlight the language that may be used to establish entitlement to Screenrights royalties.
These rights may also be referred to broadly as, for example, “Collecting Society Rights”, “Copyright Royalty Collection Rights” or “Secondary Royalty Rights”. Secondary royalties may be also referred to by their specific name (e.g “Retransmission Royalties”), or may be referred to broadly as, for example, “Screenrights Income” or “Collecting Society Income”. Always seek advice from a legal practitioner on whether your contract provides for rights to secondary royalties.
SAMPLE CONTRACT CLAUSES TERMINOLOGY
In these sample clauses, “Creator” is used to refer to the individual or company that created the original copyright material, such as the film, script, music or artistic work.
If you are not the original creator of copyright material, but you have been assigned or exclusively licensed the right to receive Screenrights royalties, you may wish to use the term “Owner” in place of “Creator”.
COLLECTING ALL SCREENRIGHTS ROYALTIES
If you wish to be paid all Screenrights royalties for a particular program, you may wish to consider including one of the following clauses in any contract or arrangement you propose to enter into:
1. Royalty rights retained by the Creator
The Creator retains the right to receive all royalties from all collecting societies throughout the world, including Screenrights, in relation to any copyright arising out of this Agreement.
2. Rights assigned or licensed
The Creator [assigns to ENTITY NAME] OR [grants to ENTITY NAME] for [No.] years the right to receive all royalties from all collecting societies throughout the world, including Screenrights, in relation to any copyright arising out of this Agreement.
EDUCATIONAL AND GOVERNMENT ROYALTIES IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND
The following suggested clauses address who is entitled to collect educational and government royalties:
1. Royalty rights retained by the Creator
Australia: The Creator retains the right to receive educational royalties under Part IVA Division 4 and government royalties under section 183 of the Copyright Act 1968 in relation to any copyright arising out of this Agreement.
New Zealand: The Creator retains the right to receive royalties payable under section 48 of the Copyright Act 1994 in relation to any copyright arising out of this Agreement.
2. Royalty rights assigned or licensed
Australia: The Creator [assigns to ENTITY NAME] OR [grants to ENTITY NAME] for [No.] years the right to receive educational and government royalties under Part IVA Division 4 and section 183 of the Copyright Act 1968 respectively in relation to any copyright arising out of this Agreement.
New Zealand: The Creator [assigns to ENTITY NAME] OR [grants to ENTITY NAME] for [No.] years the right to receive educational royalties under section 48 of the Copyright Act 1994 in relation to any copyright arising out of this Agreement.
RETRANSMISSION ROYALTIES IN AUSTRALIA
The following suggested clauses address who is entitled to collect Australian retransmission royalties:
1. Royalty rights retained by the Creator
The Creator holds the right to receive retransmission royalties in Australia under Part VC of the Copyright Act 1968 in relation to any copyright arising out of this Agreement.2. Royalty rights assigned or licensed
The Creator [assigns to ENTITY NAME] OR [grants to ENTITY NAME] for [No.] years the right to receive retransmission royalties in Australia under Part VC of the Copyright Act 1968 in relation to any copyright arising out of this Agreement.
Since 2005, the Copyright Act 1968 has granted directors of films a share of film retransmission royalties in certain cases. Directors may use the above clauses to clarify whether they can claim this money. It should be noted, however, that the Copyright Act does not clearly specify what the director’s share of the retransmission royalties is; so it is preferable for parties to the agreement to specify the proportion in which the director/s and producer/s share the retransmission royalties.
INTERNATIONAL ROYALTIES
The following suggested clauses address who is entitled to register for international royalties collected by Screenrights:
1. Royalty rights retained by the Creator
The Creator retains the right to receive all royalties collected by Screenrights from other copyright collecting sources throughout the world, in relation to any copyright arising out of this Agreement.2. Royalty rights assigned or licensed
The Creator [assigns to ENTITY NAME] OR [grants to ENTITY NAME for [No.] years the right to receive all royalties collected by Screenrights from other copyright collecting sources throughout the world, in relation to any copyright arising out of this Agreement.
JOINT AUTHORSHIP
Where you are a joint rightsholder with another person or company, or the work is otherwise jointly owned, you may wish to use the following clause:
The Creator and ENTITY NAME hold, as tenants in common throughout the world, the right to receive all royalties from all collecting societies in relation to any copyright arising out of this Agreement in the following proportions:
(a) Creator [No.]%; and
(b) ENTITY NAME [No.]%.