On December 11, AGICOA Europe, AGICOA's partner organization based in Luxembourg, held its first Board of Directors' meeting.

John M. Jacobsen, the President of AGICOA Europe has nominated its executive committee and André Chabeau was designated as Managing Director.

AGICOA Europe is a collecting society domiciled in Luxembourg to facilitate AGICOA's activities in certain European Union member countries thanks to the principle of the free movement of services and freedom of establishment within the Union.

The creation of the European clone of AGICOA is planned for the first quarter of 2008.

To anticipate possible changes in the European legislation pertaining to collective management, the sister organization will be domiciled in Luxembourg, in the heart of the European Community. Its status will be that of a collecting society subject to the laws of the country of localization. It structure, governance and constitution will obey the same rules as in the case of AGICOA.

Several licensing agreements have been signed in Albania in 2005. Although certain cable operators have not yet honored their commitments, the first collections did take place in 2007. The potential for royalties is still limited and the amounts collected by AGICOA will be allocated to a mark-up distribution at the end of the year.

Apart from Alfakabel, no other Albanian cable operators accepted to conclude licensing agreements. AGICOA and ALBAUTOR are currently in contact with the local Broadcasting council in order to shut down these illegal activities.

AGICOA has been building an alliance with the Albanian CISAC collecting society ALBAUTOR and the EBU broadcaster in view of concluding a global licensing agreement in Albania.

First agreements were signed with Alfakabel. Negotiations with additional cable-operators are going on.

The first collections are expected to take place in year 2008.

In the meantime Screenrights (the Australian audiovisual copyright society and AGICOA's Member) and AGICOA are making progress in building up a close cooperation with regard to the distribution of the Australian royalties.

The two companies have decided to enter into partnership and are right now preparing a rigorous planning taking into consideration the Australian market specificities.

The contract with INDI represents the first instance of an agreement reached by AGICOA in Belgium relative to digital cable retransmission rights.

Such arguments put forward by cable operators today are the same as those dating back to the seventies and pertaining to copyright preservation in case of cable retransmission. The claims made at the time were rejected both by the European Court of Justice and different national courts.

For AGICOA, the underlying principle of copyright is simple: any entity that uses protected works in the context of its economic activity must be authorized to do so by the Rightsholders and must pay corresponding royalties.

A new contract has also been signed for the period from 2003 to 2005 and this is a great satisfaction, commented Hein Endlich who headed the various meetings prior to this satisfactory outcome.

The former AGICOA Managing Director outlined this was before all a success for all related rightsholders for whom AGICOA will process to a special remuneration early 2003.

The global amounts collected in Bosnia will be allocated to a mark-up distribution.

AGICOA, also acting on behalf of the local music collecting society and the broadcasters represented by VG Media and EBU, has recently transmitted the draft of a global licensing agreement to the cable operators gathered under ELTA's banner.

The royalties collected by AGICOA in Bulgaria will be allocated to a mark-up distribution at the end of the year.

First because this market is composed of several hundreds of cable operators spread all over the country and difficult to federate. Second because the existing licensing agreement is meant for copyrights of broadcasts retransmitted by foreign channels on the Bulgarian territory, whereas most channels retransmitted there are foreign commercial networks or of Bulgarian origin.

In order to achieve a higher coverage in this country, and after unsuccessful negotiations with cable operators, AGICOA and Filmautor (AGICOA local Partner) are preparing for litigation.

Consequently AGICOA has contacted its Rightsholders to get their written confirmation that it is duly mandated by them to exert their respective cable retransmission royalties in Bulgaria.

In parallel, the committee met with four different state bodies in order to convince them of the need to intervene in cable market.

The result is that cable operators insist on an unacceptable 50% discount on agreed upon tariff, whereas the seconds keep referring to - and only referring to - the pending court proceedings.

AGICOA is now studying ways to save the once well running global licensing agreement.

In that perspective, the China film producers association became a member of AGICOA in 2005. They later on created the China Film Copyright Protection Association and received the state authorization to run a collecting society.

Right now both Chinese organizations and AGICOA are dealing with the registration of their members' retransmission rights in Europe and with legal and commercial advice for the future collecting activities of the China Film Copyright Protection Association in China.

The four organizations consider this common declaration as an official response to the intense lobbying of cable operators in the context of global digital conversion. This lobbying is aimed at attempting to revive an old thesis dating back to the seventies and that was turned down by the European Court of Justice a long time ago.

AGICOA's position on this issue remains clear and immutable. It is the same as that of the European Court of Justice and national courts dating back to the seventies. In those years, the cable-operators argued they did not have to pay for content retransmitted by cable and the courts replied that not paying in this context was theft and should be treated as such. This has indeed been AGICOA's position all these years and it has not changed today.

As a response to the operators' biased interpretation of copyright, AGICOA presented to the European Commission an objective and factual account aimed at restoring the fact that the principle underlying copyright is not the technology of retransmission but indeed the true economic value generated by the actual use of the copyrighted work.

The ERA compulsory licensing scheme permits staff at educational establishments to record broadcasted programmes for non-commercial educational purposes. ERA collects royalties for its members for that activity.

With its affiliation, AGICOA is thus making sure that the Rightsholders who have given it an ad-hoc mandate, derive an income from the licensed use of their works in the Kingdom schools.

AGICOA and ERA recently engaged in an arbitration to have the independent producers' share rise.

Negotiations are under way to expand the agreements to include other channels retransmitted in the country.

The royalties collected in Estonia will be allocated to a mark-up distribution.

To maximize the representation of its Rightsholders in this country, AGICOA concluded a cooperation agreement with local based collecting society TUOTOS. AGICOA and TUOTOS now constitute a strong representative for the producers in Finland.

AGICOA and ANGOA (the French collecting company) have succeeded in renewing the licensing agreements for France. The situation had been stagnating in the country since the second quarter of 1999, with the majority of cable operators operating in the absence of any agreement with the producers and paying royalties equivalent to only 70% of the previously applicable rates.

The renewal of the agreements made it possible for ANGOA to collect the 1999-2005 arrears in the course of the year and to adapt the tariff structure for the period 2006-2010.

A new global licensing agreement has finally been signed at the end of 2003 and will allow to distribute to Rightsholders a yearly income of 49 M€ for the next five years as well as some 4 M€ in compensation of satellite retransmission rights use.

The amounts collected so far are clearly insufficient but they will nevertheless be allocated to a mark-up distribution at the end of the year.

The Federation is collecting, among others, royalties for music videos' use on TV channels retransmitted by cable and AGICOA aims at adapting the current high tariffs to the actual use of music videos; thus increasing its Rightsholders' royalties.

At the same time, AGICOA is attempting to negotiate a new contract with BSky-B, an operator that has been retransmitting Channel 4 in this country since 2006.

The litigation with cable operators continues and despite the fact that several court hearings took place in winter 2004 and that procedure will continue during the spring of 2005, it is unlikely that a decision will be taken prior to 2006.

In Israel, the litigation with cable operators continues, while they are still retransmitting a large range of channels without any remuneration to producers.

AGICOA's legal proceedings against the Israeli cable operators for the infringement of producers' copyrights in works retransmitted as of the 90's, is still pending another Court's decision (outside AGICOA's file). This ruling that will decide on the existence or not of copyrights in cable retransmission of satellite broadcast is expected for the fall 2003.

In parallel, the Israeli Parliament did not adopt the law recognizing collective management.

Proceedings have been temporary stopped due to two defendants' bankruptcy. AGICOA pleaded to continue, underlining no creditors settlement were concerned but an intention to establish rights. No decision has been rendered yet.

Negotiations are under way to expand the agreements to include other channels retransmitted in the country.

The royalties collected in Latvia will be allocated to a mark-up distribution.

Negotiations are under way to expand the agreements to include other channels retransmitted in the country.

The royalties collected in Lithuania will be allocated to a mark-up distribution.

A new exemplary agreement will come into effect in Luxembourg on January 1, 2008. It will
make it possible for this country, which often leads the way in the audiovisual field, to implement
a global digital conversion, in a consensual manner, respecting the interests of all the players.

The legal foundations of copyright in the digital age do not change but certain procedures nevertheless need to be adapted to the new environment. The retransmission capacity being much higher, tariffs can no longer be negotiated with cable operators on a channel- per-channel basis. Instead, truly general licensing contracts are needed that offer entire groups of channels for a given type of Rightsholder.

The first contract of this type was negotiated in Luxembourg and involved all the categories
of Rightsholders (producers, authors and broadcasters). Every negotiating party, in particular ALGOA (the AGICOA Partner) and the Luxembourg authorities, deserves to be praised for reaching this exemplary agreement. It is a clear demonstration that scrupulous respect of intellectual property and technological progress, far from being necessarily opposed, can be complementary in contributing to a safe and harmonious development of audiovisual broadcasting.

The royalties collected in Macedonia will be allocated to a mark-up distribution.

ZAMP filed a second application and finally got the license. The global licensing agreement is therefore now expected to be concluded during the forthcoming fall.

A licensing agreement with cable operators which is due to expire at the end of 2007 is being renegotiated to obtain an extension. The agreement with Cyfra + for the satellite platform is also negotiated with the same objective in mind.

In the meantime, an interim agreement has nevertheless been concluded with the umbrella organization of Polish cable operators, OIGKK, but the negotiations did not lead to any final licensing agreement.

In parallel, AGICOA and its national partner, SFP/ZAPA, decided to sue four other cable operators including UPS which target neighbours 1 million subscribers.

AGICOA's efforts to unite Polish collecting societies failed. However AGICOA and SFP/ZAPA concluded a transitional agreement with the umbrella organization of Polish cable operators OIGKK. Apart from a small remuneration, the transitional agreement sets up the schedule of negotiations until the end 2003.

In the meantime, AGICOA and its parties will meet with a delegation of Polish cable operators to negotiate the ground of a licensing agreement covering a maximum scope of retransmission rights. An appointment with some Ministry of Culture representatives is also forecasted to warn them on the continuous pirating of Polish cable operators.

In parallel AGICOA will try to gather some of the major numerous local collecting societies in order to discuss some tariffs' adjustment commercially viable both for the cable operators and for the rightsholders.

In the same time, as all attempts to arrive at a contractual license have failed, AGICOA, ZAPA, EBU and VRPT (broadcasters) commonly decided to bring legal action against ASTER CITY, one of the main Polish cable operators.

At the same time, negotiations are under way that pertain to ADSL retransmissions in this country.

GEDIPE recently negotiated its first licensing agreement with the second largest Portuguese cable operator CABOVISAO to start collecting in the current year.

TV CABO, the main national cable operator accepted in principle to also acquire cable retransmission rights. Negotiations should start in May.

The ruling stipulates that hotel television broadcasts constitute public communications. From the perspective of collective management, such communications are subject to copyright laws. It is up to the authors to authorize these communications and to collect the corresponding royalties. It should be emphasized that the ruling pertains to integral, simultaneous, continuous and unaltered retransmissions of television channels and does not include pay-per-view services.

By enacting the view that a television broadcast in a hotel is a type of public communication, the Court's ruling sets an important precedent for the collective rights management.

Moreover, the decree setting a ridiculously low ceiling on royalties has been abolished. AGICOA and its Partners are thus in a position to negotiate new rates starting 2008.

To bypass the problem, UPFAR/ARGOA invited the cable operators to conclude a new licensing agreement. As the negotiations failed, ORDA the Romanian copyright office stated in January 2006 the start of arbitration.

The situation has not progressed since 2003 and AGICOA is studying with DACIN SARA (its local partner and copyright society) and other national bodies the possibilities to progress with cable collection in this country.

The Supreme Court's decision is expected to be ruled by end year. In the meantime, AGICOA expressed its concern to the Romanian authorities while strongly condemning the situation.

AGICOA member and partner, DACIN SARA (copyright collecting society for audiovisual works) has started mediation proceedings with local cable operators. In parallel AGICOA has made contact with the copyright state office also in view of collecting in this territory.

In co-operation with the broadcasters' organizations EBU and VGMedia in various Eastern European countries, AGICOA has recently approached the main cable operator Serbia Broadband and the cable operators' umbrella organization YU Cable.

Local collecting societies have also been contacted to participate in the global licensing agreement that could be developed.

The amounts that are nevertheless collected continue to be included in AGICOA's mark-up distributions.

Backed up by AGICOA, SAPA started several proceedings against those cable operators.

Similar negotiations with UPC, the biggest national cable operator are underway.

A specific distribution that is not part of a mark-up will probably take place in 2008.

Royalties collected by AGICOA shall be allocated during the next distribution.

The agreement is consolidating AGICOA's cooperation with its Swedish member which is collecting and distributing remuneration in its territory.

The negotiations surrounding the global digital conversion in the Netherlands resulted in the signing of an additional contract covering 120 channels.

The legal foundations of copyright in the digital age do not change but certain procedures nevertheless need to be adapted to the new environment. The retransmission capacity being much higher, tariffs can no longer be negotiated with cable operators on a channel- per-channel basis . Instead, truly general license contracts are needed that offer entire groups of channels for a given type of Rightsholder.

The BUMA/AGICOA/SEKAM global licensing agreement has been extended until December 31, 2006 with an increase of 7.5%.

The Dutch cable operators, represented by VECAI, have cancelled the existing global licensing agreement for the end of March 2005. The talks to re-establish the situation did not come to any conclusion and AGICOA started litigation against the cable operators. In a still pending intermediary injunction lawsuit, the court extended the application of the general licensing agreement until October 2005 and called for another hearing in September.

Cable operators - who launched an appeal against this ruling - would like to substitute to the global contract some channels, such as national ones and require that AGICOA negotiate directly with the broadcasters.

Fintage House, an independent financial service company in the global entertainment industry (Film, TV, Music, Fashion and Sport) became an AGICOA Member.

The Dutch cable operators, represented by VECAI, have cancelled the existing global licensing agreement for the end of March 2005. The talks did not come yet to a conclusion and need to be continued. In parallel litigation has been started against the cable operators.

The Dutch cable operators, represented by VECAI, have cancelled the existing global licensing agreement for March 31, 2005. They expressed their desire to substitute to the global contract, a series of separate contracts per broadcasting entity.

AGICOA and its local partners have already started negotiations with the cable operators to reestablish the situation.

SE-YAP, the Turkish Movie Producers Association has joined the ranks of AGICOA's Members.

After several unfruitful attempts to conclude a global licensing agreement in Turkey, AGICOA has started legal proceedings against three cable operators and filled in a statement of claim on the basis of piracy.

Since 2003 AGICOA has been trying to establish contacts with the local cable sector in Turkey. After several attempts to conclude a global licensing agreement with the main cable operator failed, AGICOA has decided to prepare litigation on the basis of piracy.

Indeed the Turkish new copyright act states that cable retransmission of copyrighted works contained in TV programs is subject to copyright, therefore cable operators are clearly pirating a/v work broadcast on Turkish and some European TV channels.

AGICOA evaluates the yearly cable royalties to between one and two million EURO. In the context of the imminent litigation and to officially back-up its action, AGICOA has contacted its Rightsholders to get their confirmation that it is duly mandated by the film rightsholders to enforce the Turkish cable retransmission rights in Turkey.

In order to extend the licensing agreement to new TV channels and to new cable operators in Ukraine, AGICOA sought the assistance of its Member, the Producers' Guild of Russia, to organize a series of meetings with various state authorities, collecting societies, the main cable operator and the umbrella organizations. Negotiations are planned to continue early 2006.