The System of Collective Management of Property Rights
Music rights management in Georgia rests on the institution of the organization for the collective management of property rights. Such an organization may be created by authors of works of science, literature and art, performers, producers of phonograms and videograms, and other holders of copyright and related rights, in order to manage their property rights jointly and professionally. The organization is a non entrepreneurial legal person accredited by the national intellectual property centre according to the procedure established by law. Property rights with respect to one right or one category of rights must be managed by only one accredited organization, which creates a monopoly regime on the market and allows right holders to be organized around a single trusted partner.
Accreditation Conditions and the Competition
To obtain accreditation, the organization submits to the centre an application establishing that: it represents right holders and any right holder may join it under its charter — confirmed by written contracts with a list of holders and a repertoire; it is capable of collective management — it has appropriate staff, the material and technical base for collecting royalties, and effective mechanisms for collection, distribution and payment; its charter and tariff distribution principles guarantee equal and non discriminatory treatment; it has paid the fee for reviewing the application; and it is not registered in the debtors registry and is not under attachment. The application is accompanied by reciprocal representation contracts with foreign organizations of the same kind — covering both the repertoire used in Georgia and the Georgian repertoire used abroad.
If those contracts cannot be presented in full at the time of application, the accreditation commission may extend the deadline: the organization receives a 1 year term for full presentation, which may be extended by a substantiated decision for the same period; failure to comply renders the accreditation void and a new competition is announced. Where there is more than one applicant, the decision is taken in favour of the one satisfying the conditions best, taking past activity into account. The decision on accreditation is published in the official bulletin; it may be appealed within 1 month of official notification, though the appeal does not suspend its operation. The organization must, within 14 days of the decision, apply to the National Agency of the Public Registry to ensure its firm name complies with the law, and upon termination of accreditation the centre announces a new competition within no later than 1 month.