Copyright and related rights

In accordance with Article 76 of the law of 30 June 1994 on copyright, a complaint may be submitted to the monitoring department of rights management companies in the following circumstances:

• by users, the copyright owners or another rights management company against a copyright management company (for example against Sabam, Aubivel or Reprobel) or against a related rights management company (for example against Simim or PlayRight for the equitable remuneration of performing artists and producers);
• by any interested party.
• when the decisions and actions taken by the rights management company are not consistent with the legal, contractual or statutory obligations of the rights management company.

Beyond this, the monitoring department acts at its own initiative or at the request of the relevant government department. 

More information on copyright and related rights

The Belgian department for intellectual property

Who can submit a complaint?  

Any interested party, such as the copyright owners, users or other rights management companies, may submit a complaint:

Copyright owner: the owner of copyright or related rights, such as the authors (e.g. composer or writer), performing artists (e.g. musician or actor), producers (for example a record company or film producer), the publishers, heirs or a rights management company which is itself a member of another rights management company.

User: persons (legal entities) who use a work or performance protected by copyright and ask permission to do so from a rights management company.

Copyright and related rights management company: a company that receives or distributes the copyright or related rights, as well as representing the interests of affiliate authors, performing artists, producers or other rights management companies, with the permission of the relevant government department.

Why?

When a rights management company takes decisions or measures which are not consistent with its legal, contractual or statutory obligations, a complaint may be submitted under Article 76 of the copyright law. Please specify the rights management company you wish to submit a complaint about.

For a copyright holder affiliated to a rights management company, the complaint may, for example, concern non-compliance with statutory redistribution rules or apparent lack of transparency in the management of the rights.

A user may, for example, submit a complaint about a rights management company collecting amounts above what is permitted under copyright legislation or beyond what is stated in its own tariffs.

A citizen who is not using any work protected by copyright may, for example, submit a complaint because they have received a request for payment from a rights management company even though they have not used a protected work.

A rights management company may, for example, dispute another company's right of receipt and redistribution - whether authorised or not - and submit a complaint about this.