FAQs
Q. What authority does the PMCA have to operate the scheme?
A. The PMCA is authorised by the publishers of certain publications to grant non-exclusive licences to copy cuttings (i) for distribution to personnel for internal management purposes and (ii) in certain specific cases to supply cuttings to third parties for their internal management purposes. The statutory framework for the PMCA is the Copyright Act 1994 (as amended), which embodies the principle that copyright is a property right subsisting in, among other things, original literary or artistic works and the typographical arrangement of published editions.
Q. Why have you contacted us?
A. We are systematically contacting companies and other organisations in New Zealand that have not contacted us. If you haven’t yet been contacted you should be aware that copying fees apply from January 1 2003, regardless of when you obtain a licence from the PMCA. Consequently, to avoid what could turn into a substantial charge for past copying, it’s in your interest to contact us, if we have not yet contacted you.
Q. We have been copying from the newspapers and magazines for many years. Why do we suddenly need a licence now?
A. The PMCA's publishers recognised the need for an effective and business-like solution to be offered to organisations wanting to reproduce copyright material from newspapers and magazines without breaking the law. So they set up the PMCA.
Q. Why should we have to pay an indemnity fee for copying from January 2003?
A. Any copies of cuttings from print media publications made prior to the grant of a licence from the PMCA will generally have constituted an infringement of copyright. It would not generally be fair on those who have been paying licence fees since the PMCA's introduction to disregard prior infringement by others.
Q. What happens if we choose not to apply for a licence?
A. If your organisation does not copy and it has the internal systems in place to enforce an effective ban, then no licence will be required. We simply ask you to sign a declaration to that effect. (There is a form for firms and another for companies and other organisations.) However, if your organisation does copy or fax cuttings, or allows its personnel to use its photocopying and fax machines to do so, but refuses to apply for a licence, then it is infringing our copyright and we will, as a last resort, take legal action.
Q. If we now stop copying, will that be all right?
A. In that case, assuming you are confident the ban on copying will be completely effective, you won't need a licence. But you will still have to settle for the past infringement.
Q. Our press cuttings agency has a licence for the copies it provides for my company. So why do we have to have a licence for copies we have already paid for?
A. The agency will pay the PMCA for the copies it provides to your organisation. It is for any further copies that a direct licence from the PMCA will need to be obtained.
Q. Ours is a manufacturing organisation. Why do we have to include all our personnel as a means of determining the basic fee? Most do not have access to a photocopier and will never receive copies of articles.
A. The basic fee for a licence is determined by the size of the licensee. There are obviously many ways of gauging the "size" of an organisation, but we think basing the scheme on the number of employees, is the most straightforward. The licence covers all staff and obviates the need for licensees to have to set up internal systems to monitor the actual copying being undertaken.
Q. What do we do if we want to copy advertisements?
A. Contact the relevant syndication department of the publication which carried the advertisement you want to copy.
Q. What do we do if the newspapers we wish to copy from are not in any of your repertoires?
A. Make contact directly with the newspapers concerned. Otherwise, by copying cuttings from those titles you will be breaching the publishers' copyrights.