AfroFIA - News details
FIA Declaration on Copyright for Performers in the Digital Age
Most people spontaneously think of authors as being “creators”. Whilst this is certainly true, fewer people tend to think of performers equally as creative artists. And yet, performers bring a very unique contribution to a script, a composition or other content that they interpret, bestowing on it an identity of their making. Audiences around the world connect to, and remember, outstanding performances, at least as much as they cherish the original work they are based on. All performers clearly are part of the creative community. As such, they must be granted intellectual property protection as a means to safeguard the integrity of their work and their reputation, as well as to derive economic benefits from the authorised exploitation of their work.
With the unanimous adoption of the WIPO Beijing Treaty in 2012, audiovisual performers are now finally granted meaningful economic and moral intellectual property rights. As national legal systems around the world are gradually brought into compliance, technological developments, changing consumer practices and distribution patterns increasingly force us to consider how a modern IP system may best be crafted: not only to enhance legal access to content, but also to keep the entertainment industry sustainable and improve the livelihood of the performers that we represent. This is all the more important, as digital networks establish themselves as a major content distribution channel, delivering performances to billions of people through various business models. Despite the spectacular growth of on-demand content delivery, many performers are yet to see the financial benefits from it and feel exposed to manipulations of their performance that may negatively affect their image and reputation.
Read the declaration, approved in Dublin on June 6, 2015, where FIA and its member unions appeal for strong intellectual property protection, giving performers maximum control over the use of their work and effective mechanisms to implement their right to a fair remuneration, including in the digital environment.
