SCAPR working groups took place in Madrid last week, with Nikolina Vujinović, Managing Partner of Vujinović and Partners, as SAO (Serbian Actors’ Organization) representative. Eleven in-person meetings with one hundred participants were held during the one event week, all of whom worked toward various performers’ benefit. Spain’s capital served as a hub for 24 nations to convene.

SCAPR (Societies’ Council for the Collective Management of Performers’ Rights) is an international platform for the development of practical cooperation between organizations for the collective management of performers’ rights, whose members are 58 organizations (CMOs – Collective Management Organizations) from 42 countries with the primary goal of improving performers rights, as well as the efficiency and mutual cooperation of organizations from different countries.

This year too, the legal working group dealt with the impact of artificial intelligence on the personal and interpretation rights of performers.

Artificial intelligence, as a tool whose primary goal is to improve technology and the quality of life and work, must be placed in clear legal frameworks and rules so that it does not become a means of unfounded exploitation of the rights of authors and performers.

In addition to many open questions, discussion was about the possibility of licensing copyright and related rights, charging a fee for the use of works by AI, identifying the use of an artist’s work, fair use, issues of contributions by performers and authors from different jurisdictions, TDM exception, issues of protection of other personal performer’s rights (deep fake, protection of personal data, etc.)…

The members of SCAPR, together with other organizations from the field of culture and art, called for the adoption of the AI ​​​​Act – an EU act that regulates issues of artificial intelligence, the pre-final text of which was published on January 24, was approved on February 2. by two member states and its adoption in the EU is expected soon.

Vujinović & Partners law firm specializes in the rights of performers and the protection of their data, with an emphasis on film and theater arts. Also, the increasingly influential context of artificial intelligence and its impact on the field of art and media is something that we are directing our portfolio of legal services towards. You can contact us at office@vujinovicpartners.rs.

The featured image shows a three-dimensional sculpture by Roy Lichtenstein, exhibited at the The Reina Sofía National Art Centre in Madrid.