Collective Management of Copyrights and Human Rights in an Age of Technological Automation

Authors

Laurence R. Helfer, Duke Law SchoolFollow
Giulia Priora

Document Type

Chapter of Book

Publication Date

2025

Keywords

human rights law, copyright law, collective rights management, collecting societies, international law

Abstract

Collective management organizations (CMOs) across the world have remained key to the exercise and enforcement of copyrights and neighbouring rights of individual creators notwithstanding the rapid development of digital technologies and their decentralizing potential. This chapter provides an up-to-date legal analysis on the role and activities carried out by CMOs vis-à-vis the protection of creators’ rights as international human rights. By scrutinizing key treaty provisions and interpretative documents, the analysis reveals how a human rights framework supports numerous functions performed by CMOs. However, significant conflicts may arise from certain practices and policies of CMOs concerning, for example, mandatory membership, promotion of national culture, and automated rights management systems. The chapter showcases how a human rights framework provides guidance to states and non-state actors to prevent or at least mitigate these conflicts and to inform future legal developments reforms to modernize the legal rules on in this area.

Citation

Laurence R. Helfer & Giulia Priora, Collective Management of Copyrights and Human Rights in an Age of Technological Automation, in Collective Management of Copyright and Related Rights 67-96 (Daniel Gervais & João Pedro Quintais eds., 4th ed. 2025)