COPYRIGHT

Source: Newspaper Diario Libre.
Website:
Http://www3.diariolibre.com/noticias_det.php?id=880
Date: Wednesday, January 9, 2008.

Economic interests are denounced in the case against Musicalia.
Mayra Tejada replied with a letter, which is reproduced in its essence. Edwin Espinal offers his views on the case.

A record of Juanes is the bone of contention.

Santo Domingo. "This case has no haze other than the interest of some people not to recognize the rights provided by the law in favor of the copyright holders and their legal representatives, and others, who are dedicated to defending the intellectual property rights, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, they are able to deny the territoriality of these rights and their principles, without more results than the liquidation of expenses and fees”, said yesterday in a letter sent via the Internet to this newspaper, Mayra Tejada, president of Clave Siete S. A., who represents in this country the music publisher Peermusic Colombia, which in turn has the rights of Juanes, in its dispute with the record store Musicalia.

Tejada reports that there are deposited in the proceedings file of the case the publishing contract signed between Juanes and Peermusic III, with their corresponding adendums; the agency agreement of representation between Peermusic of Colombia and Clave Siete; the power of legal representation provided by the Corporation Peer to Mayra Rosa Tejada as president of Clave Siete and under the contract of representation with Peermusic of Colombia; certification of the Corporation Peer where it is indicated in an enunciative way the entities that are part of the Corporation Peermusic.

The executive reiterates that the claim of Peermusic has been based on the provisions of Law No. 65-00 on copyrights and international treaties on the subject that have been signed by the country (DR-CAFTA, Bema, ADPIC (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights of the World Trade Organization –TRIPS-), among others), in which texts it is enshrined the territoriality of the rights and exclusive authority of the titleholders to authorize or prohibit the distribution, and any other form of commercial explotation of them. "It is on this point that the debate must be based," she says.

She also notes that in Peermusic "have trusted other publishers like BMG, PMC (Gilberto Santa Rosa), V & V MUSIC (Víctor Manuel), Geminis Records, Editora Musulman, Strictly Confidential, Edimusic, Cherry Lane, Malaco, Orphon, Wranhr Chapell, Eman , Pham & Emmi, to name a few. "

An expert opinion.

A knowledgeable expert on the subject of copyrights in the country, Edwin Espinal, who was president of ONDA (Oficina Nacional de Derecho de Autor –National Office of Copyrights-) in the past Government, sent his opinion at the request of Diario Libre, in which he states that the lawsuit faced between Clave Siete and Musicalia "is attractive, since in our courts it is not common to find legal processes in the field of copyrights. Hence, the decisions coming out of the empowered courts will be of great interest, in order to know the criteria in the interpretation of Law No. 65-00, and the general principles about copyrights".

He argues that "it will be essential for the court to review the chain of contracts operated among the different rights holders."

Based on what it has been published, he understands "that Peermusic, on the basis of a publication contract, assured a percentage of revenue sharing that corresponds to Juanes from the exploitation of the musical works of his authorship, granting a license for mechanic rights to the records producer Universal for its inclusion in the above production. In practice, producers of phonograms are authorized to carry three specific rights: recording, at its own risk, works in phonograms of their production; make copies of these phonograms; and distribution to the public. Universal alleges that it cancelled these rights –which it should be established by the court taking into consideration the territorial nature of the license of mechanic rights-, which, if so, Musicalia would be exempt from any payment, being able to sell the product without inconveniences in its stores".

He adds: "We have to say that the international practice shows us that the liquidations or rights and royalty payments are made by producers under the licences granted to them, and never by distributors -as is Musicalia-, for whom it wouldn’t be a good business to incur in that obligation because it would have to charge its amount to the price of the records, making it difficult for sale. "




By Alfonso Quiñones.
freddy Miranda,
Translated by Orlando Alcántara