Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Go raibh maith agat, a Theachta. As the Deputy will be aware, copyright legislation ensures that all authors and performers, including actors, performers, writers and directors, are protected by provisions of copyright legislation where the authors or performers choose to transfer their rights to another party, for example, to producers in the film and TV industry. The transfer of rights is usually done by way of a licence or contract in which the remuneration due to the authors or performers in exchange for the transfer of his or her intellectual property rights is agreed between the parties concerned. Copyright legislation does not prescribe how such agreements should be made. The contractual matter is a matter for the parties. However, these contractual arrangements must be cognisant of the relevant provisions of the EU Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market 2019, transposed into Irish legislation by way of SI 567/2021 - European Union Copyright and Related Rights in the Digital Single Market Regulations 2021.

While Irish copyright legislation does not specifically mention buyout contracts, compliance with Part 6 of SI 567/2021 compels the principle of appropriate and proportionate remuneration to be included in contracts for rights holders and describes how this should be achieved. Regulation 27 provides for a transparency obligation meaning that a rights holder must receive, from the party to whom the rights holder has transferred his or her rights, detailed information on how the work has been exploited. The provision ensures that authors and performers have access to an increased level of information about the exploitation of their works and performances, which is necessary to allow rights holders to assess their economic value adequately and continuously. Having obtained information by way of Regulation 27, Regulation 28 then offers authors and performers a contract adjustment mechanism when the remuneration originally agreed turns out to be disproportionately low. This compares the success of their work or performance to the resulting revenues generated and gives them rights under it.

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