Binding authors with five-year agreements without the possibility of their earlier termination restricted competition, decided the President of UOKiK and fined ZAIKS with over PLN 400 thousand. The practice has been changed

The Authors’ Association ZAiKS is the oldest and the biggest organization dealing with collective management and protection of copyright. Next to several other associations operating in Poland, it grants permissions to use works, supervises the way these rights are exercised and collects and divides the revenue obtained from users. This is the only organization of collective management of the rights to musical works and verbal-musical works in Poland.

The practice which was called into question by UOKiK concerned authors who were not ZAiKS members. A person willing to entrust the Association with their copyright management had to sign a declaration to the effect that the agreement with ZAIKS would expire only after five years, regardless of the date of submitting the notice of termination. According to UOKiK this period was excessively long.

The practice hinders the operations of other organizations of collective rights management. Since it is possible for an author to change the collecting society only once in five years, without any possibility of shortening this period, any potential competitor of ZAiKS has little room for concluding enough agreements with authors to obtain economic bases for operating efficiently on the market.

The practice had also a negative influence on authors themselves. They had a limited possibility of deciding in a reasonable period of time how their rights should be managed, if they concluded that ZAiKS acts inefficiently or if any other entity offered them better terms than ZAiKS.

As a result of UOKiK’s activities, the business changed its policy. At present, authors who are not members of the Association still entrust ZAIKS with the management of their rights for five years, however, during this period they can withdraw from the agreement with a six-month notice, taking effect at the end of the calendar year.

Pursuant to the Act on Competition and Consumer Protection, the President of UOKiK may fine a business with up to 10 percent of the previous year's revenue for applying competition-restricting practices. ZAiKS was fined with PLN 407 256.

This decision is not final. The business operator has the right to appeal to the Court of Competition and Consumer Protection.

This is not the first decision of UOKiK concerning ZAiKS. In 2004, in the proceedings initiated on the request of the music band Brathanki, the Association was fined with PLN 500 000 for forcing authors give it exclusive authorisation to manage their copyright as regards the public performance and recording of their works, whereas in 2008, ZAiKS and the Polish Filmmakers Association were fined with the total of over PLN 1.2 million for concluding an illegal agreement and fixing uniform rates for using audiovisual works and refusing to negotiate them.

Additional information:
Małgorzata Cieloch, Spokesperson for UOKiK
Pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warsaw, Poland
Tel. (+48 22) 827 28 92, 55 60 106, 55 60 430
faks (+48 22) 826 11 86
E-mail: malgorzata.cieloch@uokik.gov.pl

UOKiK Branch Office in Warsaw
Pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warsaw, Poland
Tel. (+48 22) 826 89 54
faks (+48 22) 827 67 41
E-mail: warszawa@uokik.gov.pl