The following definitions are provided to assist members in understanding common terminology used by Screenrights. They are not intended to be relied upon as legal definitions.
Each member is encouraged to get their own legal advice.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Acts | The Copyright Act and the New Zealand Copyright Act. |
| Agent | A person or organisation who is appointed by a Principal to act on the Principal’s behalf. |
| Alternative dispute resolution or ADR | Methods of resolving a dispute without resorting to litigation. |
| Assign | To legally transfer rights. Under Australian law, copyright ownership may be completely assigned without restriction. |
| Assignee | A person or organisation to whom rights are assigned. |
| Australian Educational Communication Royalties | Means royalties collected for the communication of Broadcasts by Australian educational and other institutions. |
| Australian Educational Copying Royalties | Means royalties collected for the copying of Broadcasts by Australian educational and other institutions. |
| Australian Educational Service | Means the collection services offered by Screenrights pursuant to Parts VA & VB of the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) for Australian Educational Copyright Royalties and Australian Communication Royalties. |
| Australian Government Copying Royalties | Means royalties collected for the copying of television and sound Broadcasts by Australian government departments and agencies for the services of the Crown. |
| Australian Government Service | Means the collection services offered by Screenrights pursuant to Part VII of the Copyright Act for Australian Government Copyright Royalties. |
| Australian Retransmission Royalties | Means royalties collected from the retransmission of free-to-air broadcasts by retransmitters. |
| Australian Retransmission Service | Means the collection services offered by Screenrights pursuant to Part VC of the Copyright Act for Australian Retransmission Royalties. |
| Author | In relation to a cinematograph film, means the maker of the film. |
| Broadcast | Means a Broadcast as defined in the Copyright Act. |
| Claim details | When registering a program, a member provides Screenrights with Claim details such as:
|
| Commissioned sound recordings | Means a sound recording of a musical work where the member owns the copyright in the sound recording pursuant to a commissioning agreement or otherwise. |
| Collection period | The period in which you hold the right to collect royalties accrued during your rights period (also known as “validity period”). |
| Collecting societies | Collecting societies collect royalties for distribution to their members |
| Competing claim | A competing claim arises when Screenrights receives more than one registration for a program from different members asserting a claim to the same royalty. |
| Competing claim resolution procedures | Screenrights’ options for resolution of Competing Claims:
|
| Commissioned Sound Recordings | Means a sound recording of a musical work where the member owns the copyright in the sound recording pursuant to a commissioning agreement or otherwise. Sometimes abbreviated to CSR. |
| Copyright | Copyright is a bundle of economic rights which give their owner the exclusive right to do certain things in relation to copyright protected material, including literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works, sound recordings, films and television and radio broadcasts. Generally , exclusive rights can include the right to copy and communicate one’s work to the public, including broadcasting and making copyright material available on the internet. See more in detail in the Copyright Act. |
| Copyright Act | Means the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) unless otherwise indicated. |
| Deadline royalties | Screenrights has a four year Distribution Period. When only one year is left to distribute royalties, they are referred to as deadline royalties. |
| Dispute | Means as a ‘competing claim’ in the context of the competing claim resolution procedures. |
| Distribution period | Means the four year period that Screenrights has to distribute the royalties it collects. The period starts at the end of the year in which the royalties were generated. |
| Estimated potential value | Screenrights’ approximate judgment of the value of a royalty assuming the competing claim is resolved 100% in favour. |
| Event | An instance of copying, communication or retransmission of a Broadcast (AU) or Communication Work (NZ). |
| Event Date | The date that the Event occurred. |
| Exclusions | Any exceptions to a member’s claim to the right to collect royalties for a registered title. |
| Expert determination | The process of expert adjudication involving a trained and qualified independent expert who makes a decision that is binding on the members with respect to the competing claim. |
| Express Resolution Process | A framework for the timely resolution of Competing Claims which seem to be of a non-complex nature utilising a simple set of presumptions based on principles of Australian copyright and contract law and standard industry agreements. Summaries of the current presumptions and the tests involved in determining the applicability of one or more of them can be found here. You can view the full current presumptions table here. |
| Film | A cinematograph film as defined in the Acts. |
| Indemnity | Security against loss. |
| Independent expert | A person who has the relevant knowledge or skill to make a decision to resolve a competing claim and is independent of Screenrights. The Independent expert has a duty to act fairly and impartially when carrying out this duty. |
| Internal determination | Where a Screenrights representative makes a decision based on all written applications received and such other material available that in the Screenrights representative’s view is relevant to the Competing Claim. |
| Licensee | An entity who is granted a licence. |
| Membership agreement | The document that is agreed to and signed to become a member of Screenrights. The membership agreement is updated from time to time and the current version is located on Screenrights’ website. |
| Mutual agreement to share | Parties to a competing claim mutually agree to a suitable outcome in relation to currently available royalties from the CCF Year or final year of a Distribution Period. Mutually agreeing to share royalties is a temporary resolution and does not change each member’s registration. |
| MyScreenrights | MyScreenrights is an online portal that members can access to view and amend their membership and registration details. |
| New Zealand Educational Communication Royalties | Means royalties collected from the communication of Communication Works by educational establishments in New Zealand. |
| New Zealand Educational Copying Royalties | Means royalties collected from the copying of Communication Works by educational establishments in New Zealand. |
| New Zealand Educational Service | means the collection services offered by Screenrights pursuant to section 48 of the Copyright Act 1994 (NZ) for New Zealand Educational Copying Royalties and New Zealand Educational Communication Royalties. |
| New Zealand Copyright Act | Means the New Zealand Copyright Act 1994. |
| Paid royalties | Means royalties that Screenrights have transferred out of its bank account into a member’s bank account based on a registration. |
| Portfolio | CA client of an agent member. Agent members of Screenrights may have multiple clients. For the efficient and accurate management of registrations and the distribution of royalties, Screenrights will assign each of the Agent member’s clients with a unique Portfolio. |
| Presumption | A presumption under the Express Resolution Process sets out how a competing claim is likely to be resolved in light of relevant criteria including the application of Australian copyright law, standard terms of industry agreed contracts and industry practice. Summaries of the current presumptions and the tests involved in determining the applicability of one or more of them can be found here. You can view the full current presumptions table here. |
| Presumption in favour | Means that based on information provided by the parties in the course of registering and maintaining the registration of a program, Screenrights identifies that a Presumption applies to a Competing Claim in favour of your claim. |
| Presumption not in favour | Means that after Screenrights assessing registration information related to a competing claim under the Express Resolution Process, a Presumption is found in favour of the other party to the competing claim. You have an opportunity to make a submission within 60 days to challenge the application of the Presumption. |
| Principal | A person who appoints an agent to act on their behalf. |
| Resolution options | The resolution options offered by Screenrights to its members in cases where the parties involved in a competing claim cannot resolve the matter between themselves. |
| Registration | Registering programs gives Screenrights information about the programs to allow Screenrights to accurately identify rightsholders in programs and efficiently distribute any royalties collected for the use of their work. |
| Relevant law | As a general principle, the law that applies in relation to the existence, validity, scope and duration of copyright rights is the law of the country where legal protection is claimed. Screenrights royalties arise as a result of a statutory scheme under the Copyright Act. Therefore, the Copyright Act is relevant in determining entitlement to the royalties collected by Screenrights. |
| Retransmission | Means retransmission of a free-to-air broadcast by another services such as pay television or IPTV where the content of the broadcast is unaltered and the retransmission is simultaneous with the original transmission; or if the retransmission is in an area that has wholly or partly, different local time to the area of the original transmission the retransmission is delayed until no later than the equivalent local time, as defined in the Copyright Act. |
| Retransmission royalties | Royalties generated from retransmission. |
| Rights | See definition of Copyright. |
| Rights period | The period in which a member is entitled to collect the royalties generated from the copy, communication or retransmission of a broadcast program. |
| Rightsholder | A person or organisation that owns or controls a right to receive Screenrights royalties. |
| Royalties | A sum payable to a Rightsholder for use of a work or other subject matter (see definition of Australian Copyright Act). |
| Self service | Informal approaches to resolution by the parties, including a final resolution as to the proper rightsholder of the royalties, or temporary resolution by limited mutual agreement on a suitable outcome in relation to currently available royalties from the CCF Year or final year of a Distribution Period. |
| Script | A defined term in Screenrights’ Membership Agreement meaning the underlying literary and dramatic works in a Film, which can include but is not limited to a screenplay. |
| Statutory declaration | The Australian Ministers of Communications and the Arts have declared Screenrights to be a collecting society for various provisions under the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). As a declared society, Screenrights is responsible for licencing organisations, collecting licence fees and distributing those royalties to Rightsholders. |
| Sufficient evidence | Is a phrase used in the Express Resolution Process (ERP) to mean any evidence which is sufficient to challenge or support a presumption. |
| Temporary resolution | Is a resolution by limited mutual agreement on a suitable outcome in relation to the currently available royalties from the CCF Year or final year of a Distribution Period, which does not resolve the underlying Competing Claim. |
| Unpaid royalties | Royalties collected by Screenrights for a program that have not yet been distributed to the relevant rightsholder. |
| Warranty | A warranty is a contractual assurance from each member to Screenrights. The member is affirming the factual truth of their registered claim to royalties. |
| Withdrawn | Status ‘withdrawn’ in relation to a change by Screenrights to a claim for royalties following a determination means either that a claim has been withdrawn entirely or that one or more components of the claim (such as Script or Film or Commissioned Sound Recordings) has been amended by Screenrights to a zero percentage (0%) claim. |