The Court of Appeal has ruled that Recorded Artists Actors Performers Limited (RAAP) is not automatically entitled to collect all performers’ equitable remuneration held by Phonographic Performance (Ireland) Limited (PPI). Performers must authorise RAAP or another collecting society to manage their rights. The court allowed RAAP’s appeal and said it would hear the parties on the precise form of the order.
The appeal concerned two preliminary legal questions in a dispute over licence fees paid when sound recordings are played in public or included in broadcasts or cable services. The High Court had ruled that registration as a licensing body did not give RAAP a presumed right to represent every performer in a registered class, and that performers had to assign or license their rights to RAAP before it could collect for them.
The Court of Appeal agreed that registration alone did not authorise RAAP to act for all performers. It held that performers may manage their rights individually or authorise a collecting society, and that authorisation may be made by assignment, exclusive licence or another contractual arrangement. Whether a particular arrangement qualifies is a question of fact requiring an actual example.
The court answered the second preliminary question in the negative: section 281 of the Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000 does not entitle RAAP to receive all remuneration payable by PPI to performers. RAAP may receive sums due to performers who have authorised it to manage their rights, including through another collecting society or rights-holder association. It has no deemed authority over performers who have not done so.
On the first question, the court said section 208(1) places the obligation to determine payments on neither RAAP nor PPI. The amount is to be agreed by the relevant parties or, if agreement fails, determined through the statutory procedure by the Controller of Intellectual Property. Where performers have authorised RAAP, PPI must remit their share to RAAP under the agreed distribution scheme. RAAP then applies its scheme to calculate the individual shares of the performers it represents.
For performers who have not authorised a society and are not actively managing their rights, PPI must retain the sums due rather than pay them to a society without authority. The court said PPI must calculate the amount due where needed, including where represented and unrepresented performers appear on the same recording. If disputes cannot be resolved by agreement, an application may be made to the Controller. The appeal had been heard without evidence or agreed facts, so the court did not decide the practical details of implementing the ruling.