Copyright agreements, or agreements to transfer a copyright, enable AV author associations to collect exclusive rights from AV authors that apply to certain usage areas where their works are used in large quantities with an aim to strengthen the AV authors’ financial status and the control they have over their works. Such usage areas include, for example:
- the educational use of TV and radio programmes
- the retransmission of TV programmes
- online recording services for TV programmes
- the public performance of audiovisual works
- non-commercial use of recordings
By entering a copyright agreement, you ensure that you receive appropriate compensation for the use of your works – even in possible future scenarios that include areas not currently within the scope of remuneration collection. The agreement transfers your exclusive right to the usage areas indicated in the agreement to the organisation of your choice, which then forwards the management of your rights to Kopiosto.
With the transferred rights, Kopiosto is able to represent the interests of AV authors more efficiently, license the use of their works and collect and distribute remunerations in current and future usage areas as well. It is practically impossible for AV authors or AV author associations to issue extensive licences in massive usage areas, where a large number of users accesses a large number of audiovisual works.
AV author associations recommend that all their members enter a copyright agreement.
You can enter a digital copyright agreement at Kopiosto’s online service. A link to this service can be found at the bottom of this page. Entering a digital agreement requires authentication with your online banking credentials.
Entering a copyright agreement on paper
If you are unable to enter the agreement at Kopiosto’s online service, it can also be done on paper. The printable agreement document can be found at the bottom of the page at Agreement documents. Please note that all associations provide a signed agreement document template of their own.
In the copyright agreement, you must specify your position in the agreement. For example, a cameraperson or director can enter the agreement. You can also enter an agreement with more than one AV author association, if necessary. Please note that you can enter an agreement in a certain position only with a single AV author association, as the exclusive right cannot be held by more than one party at a time.
Retain one paper copy of the copyright agreement and mail the other to Kopiosto with a personal data form as an attachment. We take care of collecting copyright agreements and delivering them to the association defined in the agreement.
Mailing the agreement is free of charge, if the envelope contains the following details:
Kopiosto ry
Tunnus 5000467
TEKIJÄNOIKEUSSOPIMUS
00003 Vastauslähetys
You can enter a copyright agreement even if you are not a member of an AV author association
You can enter a copyright agreement even if you are not a member of an AV author association. However, in order to be able to transfer your copyright to an association, you must ensure that the association in question represents your position or role as an AV author. When entering an agreement, you can select any AV author association as the contracting party and define your position in the agreement.
You can terminate the copyright agreement in its entirety or revoke a certain category of rights. Please contact us at oikeudenomistajapalvelut (at) kopiosto.fi for further instructions.
Please note that the rights concerning a specific production or production company cannot be revoked. Instead, they must be revoked on the basis of the category of rights in question.
The termination or revocation becomes valid at the end of the calendar year in which the notice has been received by Kopiosto.
The rights included in a copyright agreement mainly concern such massive usage areas of audiovisual works that do not belong to the scope of production companies’ primary functions.
If you have entered a copyright agreement with an AV author association and provided the association with your exclusive rights, you cannot provide the rights included in the agreement to a third party, such as a production company. Exclusive rights can only be held by a single party at a time.
Whenever you enter a new agreement with a production or broadcasting company, please remember to mention that you have entered a copyright agreement with an AV author association.
It is also advisable to include the following in purchase orders and project agreements: “This agreement does not apply to the rights the artist has transferred to AV author association X in a copyright agreement or authorisation.”