Albania

[AL] Office for Copyright Protection Recommends Suspension of Licenses for Collective Rights Agencies

IRIS 2013-3:1/7

Ilda Londo

Albanian Media Institute

On 16 January 2013, the Office for Copyright Protection (Office) recommended to the Ministry of Culture the suspension of the licenses of two agencies that administer intellectual property rights. The agencies are Albautor, which holds rights to musical works, and AKDIE, which administers the rights of interpreters.

According to the Office, which is the state supervisory body for the area of copyright, these two agencies have not been able to collect royalties and to distribute them among authors. In addition, the Office stated that these agencies failed to submit the required information to this body, such as a list of fees and royalties, the authorisations issued by them together with the invoices, and information on their activity, as requested by the Office. In addition, the office claimed that these two agencies had not summoned the General Assembly every year, as requested. Thus, based on Law no. 9380 “On copyright and other related rights”, the Office suggested to the Ministry of Culture that it should suspend the licenses of both agencies for a six-month term.