SIAE

SIAE ([Italian Authors and Publishers Association] Error: {{Lang-xx}}: text has italic markup (help)) is an corporation founded in 1882 in Italy, it is considered the intermediary between the music tracks authors and the consumers managing the economic aspects and the economical redistribution of the royalties of the italian copyrighted tracks to the authors and for them. In 2013, the main spokeperson of the SIAE organization is the italian 79 years old songwriter Gino Paoli. In 2000s and 2010s, SIAE is known for controversial decisions to get money with the "Private Copy Tax" on every blanc CD, DVD, and HDD sold in Italy since 2001.

SIAE

Formation	1882
Type	Statutory corporation
Headquarters	Rome, Italy

Foundation of the SIAE Corporation

The SIAE was founded at the Palazzo Marino, Milan, Italy, on 23 April 1882. Among the first notabily names to join the Corporation there were the italian poet Giosuè Carducci (1835–1907) ( and the italian musician Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901).

SIAE’s intermediary activity

The protection of intellectual property is specifically dealt with under Law no. 633/1941. In this law the fifth section is dedicated to organisations of public law (thus, SIAE) for the protection and application of author’s rights.

This consists of the assignment to the SIAE, exclusively, of the intermediary activity, however it may be implemented, under each form of intervention (direct or indirect), mediation, mandate, delegation and also relinquishment for the enforcement of rights of representation, execution, recitation, broadcasting and reproduction by any technical means of protected works.

Such activity is practised to carry out:

• Concession, on behalf of, and in the interests of the rightsholder, of licences and authorisations for the exploitation of protected works.
• Calculation of the proceeds deriving from said licences and authorisations.
• Allocation of said proceeds between the righstholders.

The organisation’s activity, moreover, will be carried out according to the laws established by the regulations in foreign countries in which there is an organised agency.

Initially, the violation of the sole right was punishable by prosecution, but the sanctioning order has been diminished by the ‘decriminalisation’ effect and currently, only the administrative sanction can be applied.

Therefore the management of a large part of the exploitation rights of works is entirely entrusted to the SIAE, yet safeguarding the author’s power, as well as his/her successors or those having cause, to exercise their known rights. Only in Italy does this phenomenon of entrustment of intermediary activity to a single society happen. In short, SIAE’s business is the concession of ‘licences’ and ‘authorisations’, and the collection of related fees, determined by the Society.

How to register

An author can entrust the protection of his/her work to the SIAE by mandate or membership. The right to stand as a candidate and to vote in the election of the governing bodies of the Society is given to members, who must also pay an annual fee. This differs from mandates; those who register by mandate must renew the protection of their works every four years. Authors, publishers and agents who do not hold citizenship of a country in the European Union can protect their work through SIAE but cannot join the organisation. They must establish a mandate. Children can register for free, through a mandate valid until 31 December of the year in which the child turns 18.

Pseudonym and professional name

Authors who choose to register as associates can (with additional payment) register their works under a pseudonym or professional name. There is no real etymological difference between the two terms. However, according to the SIAE, a pseudonym is simply an alternative name to that given at birth, while a professional name is one by which the artist is known by the media and their fans. Protecting a work under a professional name is less expensive compared to a pseudonym, but documentation (newspaper articles, websites, discs, posters) is required to prove that the artist is known by that name.

How to deposit works

To deposit a work, the author must lodge a deposit application, along with an unedited copy signed by each author at their nearest SIAE branch. For works of music or video, that is, those not produced on paper, the full signature of all authors, and other rightsholders if any, must be placed – together with the title - on an adhesive label stuck directly on the carrier.

Economic rights

The duration of economic rights ends 70 years after the author’s death. In the case of works created by more than one author, i.e. jointly or collectively, this period ends 70 years after the death of the last living author. Subsequently, the work becomes public property and is available for use without authorisation, and without the need to agree intellectual property compensation. Creative elaborations of a pre-existing work still under copyright must be authorised by the rightsholder. The duration of protection over derivative work is 70 years after the elaborator’s death. The same rules apply to translations of a work into a language different to that of the original. The main exploitation rights of a work are:

• The right to reproduction: that is, the right to produce copies of the work, material or otherwise
• The right to execution, representation, recitation, or rather, public reading of the work: that is, the right to present the work to a physically present audience through the various means of communication specified above
• The right to public communication: that is, the right to broadcast the work to a distant audience
• The right to distribution: that is, the right to sell the work or make it available to the public
• The right to adaptation: that is, the right to modify the original work

Economic rights are exclusive: they allow the author to authorise the use of his/her work and to receive the associated financial benefits. Furthermore, property rights can be surrendered to a third party, in all the forms permitted by law. However, moral rights cannot be transferred.

Controversial decisions

Italian consumers pay the “Private Copy SIAE tax’ since 2001’s for every black CD/DVD/HDD/DVDDrive/MP3 device bought. On 27 November 2013 Italian Minister Massimo Bray (Beni Culturali) took the decision to establish new taxes for some goods like like HDTVs and PVRs, that money will go to the SIAE. It is said that this fact is very controversial, because there is not connection or direct connection with paying the SIAE getting a new HDTV or a PVR.

External links

• Official website