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Authors & Publishers

Whether they’ve written their first novel, illustrated a learn-to-read book or published a notable and quotable study, it’s important that creators and their publishers receive the credit and revenue their work deserves. We work with more than 3,500 authors and 650 publishing companies – and counting – to make this an easy process that benefits everyone. Here’s how we offer support...

How ICLA supports rightsholders

We help rightsholders – including authors, visual creators and publishers – by supporting copyright and related legislation, which is the basis of all livelihoods related to the creative industries. Meanwhile, we directly license the onward use of copyright materials by educational establishments, businesses and other organisations, in return for a licence fee that we distribute to the rightsholders.

This means organisations that want to use copyright works have a simple and legal means of doing so, while creative rightsholders can be remunerated for the use of their work. We pay both Irish-resident authors and publishers directly. If reports from licensees show that a particular work has been used under an ICLA licence, we will pay a share of the related licence fees: 50% to the author (or their estate) and 50% to the publisher.

A share (4%) of our national income is also reserved for visual creators and paid via their representative organisation, Irish Visual Artists Rights Organisation (IVARO). For works published outside Ireland, we pay the rightsholders via the partner collective licensing organisation in the relevant country (CLA in the UK, CCC in the US, for example).

At ICLA, we also distribute licence fees received from other countries directly to authors and publishers. In 2020 ICLA distributed more than €1,329,000 to rightsholders, including €823,000 to Irish-resident rightsholders.

How ICLA supports copyright and related legislation

To support copyright holders, we uphold strong, clear copyright laws that ensure the owners of creative works have the power to decide how their work is to be used. For example, an author may want their work to be available ‘open access’, so that anyone who wants can read it. This is the author’s choice, and it is the author who sets the rules about access and reuse.

To ensure this right to decide is maintained, our activities include:

  • enabling appropriate, proportionately remunerated use of copyright material for education, business and administration.
  • providing information and education about copyright and copyright licensing to rightsholders and users of copyright content. This includes reading materials and talks that may be general or sector-specific.
  • representing the interests of authors, publishers and visual creators to the government in relation to consultations and fact-finding exercises.
  • representing the interests of Irish-resident authors, publishers and visual creators within the EU, both to EU governing bodies and to professional associations.
  • as part of the wider rightsholder community, drawing attention to any changes in copyright law worldwide that transgress the ‘three step test’ set by the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works in 1886 as the minimum standard of protection in Article 9(2).

How creators benefit from mandates

Are you a publisher or author? By signing an ICLA mandate, you’re assigning our team to help you collect the revenue you’ve worked hard for.

The benefits that mandating rightsholders enjoy include:

  • a direct relationship for paying licence remunerations.
  • a way to make sure we have the most up-to-date contact and payment details for you.
  • a way to ensure we have the latest information about your publication(s), including new editions that we should be aware of.
  • a channel for advice about licence and copyright issues generally.
  • ensuring your work is copied under an ICLA licence rather than a copyright exception that does not include any remuneration.

International representation

At ICLA, we have reciprocal agreements with reproduction rights organisations (RROs) in other countries. Through these agreements, Irish rightsholders are represented by foreign RROs in these countries and receive payment for use of their works abroad.

ICLA is a member of the International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organisations (IFRRO), the main international network of collective management organisations for text and image. As a member we comply with the IFRRO Code of Conduct, which sets out what is expected in terms of their representation of copyright owners and relationship with users. Membership of IFRRO and compliance with the Code is a necessary condition to exchange a bilateral agreement with another country.

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