RADIO AND FILM.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 190, 14 August 1933, Page 9

RADIO AND FILM.

PERFORMING RIGHTS.

UNCERTAINTY IN DOMINION

FORTHCOMING LEGISLATION.

(By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.)

WELLINGTON, this day.

Every radio listener in the Dominion is concerned to-day in the law of copyright, because a definite proportion of his license fee has to be paid for the use of items which are publicly performed. Another deduction' is made in respect to patent rights on radio apparatus, but this particular agreement will end within a year, though some arrangement will have to be made to replace it, because the patent rights remain. It is the radio position which appears to have caused the Government to give urgent consideration to the copyright question, and it is well known that the Postmaster-General, the Hon. A. Hamilton, is now going into the whole complicated question with a view to introducing legislation which will'make clear and practicable what is now a very uncertain position. With the advent of talkies, picture theatre proprietors are also directly concerned, though so far they have encountered no difficulties. But the position is that the Australasian 'Performing Rights Association controls the copyright of practically all musical items, and its conditions have to be complied with if performances arc to be allowed. There is no alternative to accepting its terms. The picture theatre industry wishes to see a tribunal established to adjudicate in cases where the copyright demands may be considered unreasonable, or where conditions are sought to be imposed which may not be in the public interest. Such a body would also benefit the radio broadcasting interests.

Following Australia. New Zealand legislation will be greatly assisted by the investigation of the copyright position by a Royal Commission, which recently reported to the Commonwealth Government, and it is probable that the Dominion will substantially follow the lines of any legislation introduced in Australia. The Australian Broadcasting Commission offered the Performing Rights Association 5 per cent of its total revenue as copyright payment, but the association proposed a charge of 2/4J per item per main station on a basis of 350,000 listeners, and three-farthings per item for each additional 10,000 listeners. The Australian Commission reported that if the New Zealand Broadcasting Board were to continue to pay for copyright at the rate previously paid by the Broadcasting Company, now superseded by the board, that the amount would bo £5250 per annum, and* that if the present claim of the Performing Rights Association were made applicable to >'cw Zealand, the annual liability would be £11,305.

Complicated Rights. New Zealand's copyright law, having been designed before the gramophone became so widely used, and long prior to the advent of the radio, is hopelessly unable to copo with the merits of the position. The law, as generally accepted, is that the composer of a musical item, who holds the copyright, can make an arrangement with a gramophone company for the use of his work, but that copyright arrangement confers no right on the gramophone concern other than to make records of the composition. Public performance of the item brings in a further claim from the original copyright owner, which is the point of importance to picture theatre owners and radio listeners, and here the Performing Eights Association comes in. Claiming as it does the copyright of nearly all compositions, those who use the items arc, under New Zealand law, placed in an impossible position if they wish to test the right of the association to levy a fee, because there is no registered' list of the compositions over which it claims control, and the onus is on the performer to prove that the association has no rights in the matter. Hence a costly legal action becomes necessary. Nor is there any tribunal in existence which can intervene to ensure an equitable arrangement under which performances may take place. The radio position may be settled by legislating for a fixed statutory fee, giving the right to perform publicly all copyright items, otherwise the broadcaster must conform to the terms of the association, or go out of business, because nearly all the items, whether recorded or presented by artists in the studio, are copyright.

It is recommended by the Australian Commission that the tribunal to hear copyright disputes should not be of a permanent character, but should be set up by the Government when needed, and that no costs should be awarded either party to an action. The latter provision, s"tates the commission, may have the result of indirectly compelling the parties to come to an agreement, and may eliminate some of the formalities of litigation, and may prevent a wealthy organisation ' from crushing a poorer association.

The commission also suggests that the Performing Eights Association should be compelled to file, for public reference, lists of works in which it claims copyright, and that its schedule of fees, and accounts of receipts and distribution of fees, should also be filed, and open to inspection by the public on payment of a fee.