The Regional seminar on the rights of audiovisual authors in Central and Eastern Europe was held on October 26 and 27, 2023 in Belgrade.
The Seminar was organized by the Society of Audiovisual Authors (SAA), roof organization of European collective organizations representing authors of audiovisual works, and in cooperation with the Slovenian Collective Society Enforcing and Securing Rights of Authors, Performers and Producers of Audiovisual Works – AIPA and the Polish organization for the collective administration of the rights of authors and producers of audiovisual works – ZAPA. One of the hosts of the event was the Serbian collective organization for the administration of the rights of the authors of audiovisual works – UFUS AFA Protection.
The seminar was attended by the representatives of the organizations for the collective administration of the rights on audiovisual works and government bodies engaged in the supervision over the work of the mentioned organizations in the countries of the region.
The Director of the Intellectual Property Office, Mr. Vladimir Marić, held the introductory address in the course of the first day of the seminar underlining: “When we are discussing the relationship between the authors and their organizations on one side, and the users on the other side, everything is based on the search regarding the balance of interests and the establishment of justice”. He also mentioned that the establishment of the two young collective organizations, UFUS AFA protection and GOS, put Serbia in the line with progressive European countries when the protection of rights of our audiovisual artists is the issue.
In the continuation of the seminar, the representatives of the Office took part in the discussion in the course of the round table, where the participants of the event discussed the strengthening of cooperation between the organizations for the collective administration of rights of audiovisual artists and the government bodies competent for the supervision over the work of these organizations.
The event enabled the participants to share their thoughts, with regard to the collective administration of the rights of authors of audiovisual works in the region also, by presenting experiences of Croatia, Poland and Slovenia, regarding the implementation of the EU directives – “DSM” and “SatCab II” and discussing challenges met by organizations in the course of the further development of the system of collective administration of rights of authors of audiovisual works.