Policy Observatory

Between May and June 2016 two important Italian singers – Fedez and Gigi D’Alessio - expressed their will to abandon the SIAE – Società Italiana Autori ed Editori (Italian Society of Authors and Publishers) and to protect their IPR rights by Soundreef. One of the main reasons for their choice is the lack of transparency in the mechanisms of attribution to each author of his/her rights, while in the field of audio and video, the new technologies could allow each author to monitor the use and the reproduction of their own music, songs and products.

The debate following the publication of the decision of these two singers stressed the need to reduce the monopoly of brokerage that SIAE holds in the field of IPR and to strengthen free market and competition. In the debate the need for Italy to adopt the EU Directive 2014/26/UE on the collective management of IPR was also stressed. In this regard, one expert, Prof. Scorza, proposed to have a public body able to guarantee the protection of IPR rights and to establish an online registry of IPR, with information for each author of the brokering agency chosen, the contract signed, etc. For the Italian Antitrust Authority, the adoption of the Directive might represent an occasion to open the IPR Italian market of brokering agencies, and to allow the freedom of choice for the authors.

More information is available here.

A new law transposing directive 2014/26/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2014 on collective management of copyright and related rights and multi-territorial licensing of rights in musical works for online use in the internal market into national law went into force on 24 May 2016.