Copyright Law Requirements
To comply with copyright law, drama groups need to obtain a full Acting Set of scripts (a minimum of one script per Actor plus one for the Director) before a Performing Licence will be granted.
Performing Licences must be obtained before a Public Performance can proceed.
Author's Copyright and Performing are enforced by International Copyright Law. Copyright Infringement will lead to prosecution of the drama group.
In cases of Copyright Infringement, drama group officers (Director, Producer, Treasurer, Secretary or Chairperson) may be held personally liable for damages.
Recent Copyright Infringement Case
The overwhelming majority of drama groups respect our Author's copyright and are honest and law-abiding. Occasionally, a drama group does not respect our Author's copyright. The following is one such example.
During the evening of the 9th December 2008, following the issue of the Author Sales Reports up to the end of November, author Michael Buchanan-Smart alerted us of a copyright infringement.
The Sunshine Coast Panto-Musica Society in the remote town of Gibsons on the Pacific coast of British Columbia, Canada were about to put on a production of Michael's Sleeping Beauty and had not purchased or applied for a Performing Licence. The 10 performances were due to start on 11th December, in just two days time, at the Heritage Playhouse Theatre in the same town.
Furthermore, this drama group had purchased only 6 scripts for a production involving 20 principals and a total cast of 50 performers.
On further investigation, it emerged that not only had the drama group abused copyright law this year, but also the previous year. In December 2007, the Sunshine Coast Panto-Musica Society had also put on a production of Panto at the OK Corral written by the late Jim Sperinck, again without applying for or purchasing a Performing Licence.
Therefore, for two years in succession, the Sunshine Coast Panto-Musica Society had broken international copyright law and staged illegal productions of our Author's work.
In light of this repeated pattern of copyright infringement of two of our Author's works, Jasper Publishing notified the drama group that they did not have permission to put on the production.
Furthermore, we notified the Heritage Playhouse Theatre that the production was illegal and that the theatre would be vicariously liable if they were to allow the production to proceed and that the theatre capital and assets, including the building and land, would be at risk. The theatre immediately passed an emergency motion that they would not allow the production to proceed without prior written permission from Jasper Publishing Ltd.
At the final rehearsal on the evening of 10th December, after three months of rehearsals and on the eve of opening night, the drama group were forced to announce the cancellation of the production to the cast, the parents, the theatre and the community and face reimbursement of all the ticket sales. See Fairies to the Rescue, below.
As the reasons behind the cancellation became known to the local press and the cast, the parents and the community, the drama group were shamed in the local community.
Author's works published by Jasper Publishing Ltd are protected by International Copyright Law, to which most countries are signatories, including, in this case, Canada.
As soon as we became aware of copyright infringement against our authors, Jasper Publishing Ltd immediately contacted Smart & Biggar/Fetherstonhaugh in Vancouver, British Columbia who are Canada's largest firm practising exclusively in Intellectual Property law.
The drama group now faces legal action.
Under British Columbia law, the copyright owner may be entitled to all remedies, including statutory damages of between $500 and $20,000 for each instance of copyright infringement and the drama group officers may be held personally liable.
The drama group performed 9 public performances in December 2007, copied a minimum of 15 copyright protected scripts for the 2008 production and had planned, rehearsed, booked a theatre and advertised 10 public performances in December 2008.
This corresponds to a total of 34 instances of copyright infringement and equates to minimum statutory damages of $17,000 and a maximum of $680,000. The defendant is also liable for legal fees and court fees, which are of the order of $30,000, since copyright infringement cases in British Columbia are heard by the province's Supreme Court.
The drama group's sole excuse was that they were unable to contact us. The drama group were perfectly able to contact us to purchase scripts, yet not Performing Licences. The drama group had already purchased scripts on our website and our website allows groups to purchase Performing Licences online and is, of course, always open. Remarkably, several officers of the drama group were suddenly able to contact us immediately after being notified that they did not have permission to put on the production.
This whole incident caused unnecessary inconvenience and stress for everyone involved, for the children and other members of the cast, the parents, the community, the theatre, the publisher, the author and the drama group and it's officers. Furthermore, lawyers were involved as the matter escalated and the local press ran the story.
The drama group's box office would have been £940 per performance. Jasper Publishing's fee for the Performing Licence would have been less than £40 which is shared with the Author. The Performing Licence fee is very small by comparison to the box office revenue and would still have left the bulk of this income to cover the other expenses and provide a return for the drama group.
During the past 5 years, Jasper Publishing has not increased script prices at all and has increased Performing Licences by just 10%. We offer a good and very competitive service to the amateur drama community.
In order to continue to provide a service to amateur drama groups, authors and the audience, it is necessary for the publisher and the authors to earn a modest income for their work.
The conclusion to be drawn from this example ... it is the drama group's responsibility to apply for and purchase Performing Licences in a timely manner in advance of the production. Jasper Publishing Ltd has and will exercise it's right to stop a production and take legal action against any drama group which infringes the copyright of any of our Authors, regardless of location, no matter how remote.
We will be going back through our computer records dating back to 2000 specifically looking for cases of copyright infringement. So, if you think that your drama group may have infringed the copyright of one of our Authors, we would encourage you to check your records. It will be much better for the drama group to contact us first. Without prejudice to our position, if the drama group contacts us first, we are able to treat the infringement as accidental, otherwise we will treat the infringement as intentional and take legal action accordingly.
Fairies to the Rescue
In the true tradition of British pantomime, there are good Fairies, wicked Witches, right prevails over wrong and there is a happy ending. This pantomime is no exception.
Neither Jasper Publishing nor the Author Michael Buchanan-Smart wanted to see the children and other cast members, parents or the community suffer as a result of the behaviour of the drama group officers.
Therefore, at 6 am Vancouver time on the 11th December, the day of the first performance, following emails which had been received overnight with personal appeals from two young girls in the cast, Jasper Publishing Ltd and the author Michael Buchanan-Smart took the unprecedented step of issuing the Performing Licence to two Fairies: Paige Gagne (14 years old - Fairy Floss) and Amanda Tyner (Fairy Light - Principal Boy). We understand that these two young girls were hailed as local heros that morning.
Despite the gross abuses of the drama group, we demonstrated our good faith to the Gibsons community by unilaterally issuing this Performing Licence without there having been any formal application or any payment in order that this pantomime could proceed. We also immediately notified the Heritage Playhouse Theatre of our written permission.
The pantomime went ahead on the opening night as originally planned.
Notwithstanding this, the drama group and their officers currently face legal action and very substancial statutory damages for all 34 instances of copyright infringement and the drama group and the individual officers have now been permanently blacklisted by Jasper Publishing Ltd.
Drama groups should not assume from this example that we ultimately allow a production to proceed. The overwhelming consideration, for both us as publisher and for the author, was that this was a pantomime with children involved. Children were acting and children were in the audience. It is very unlikely that we would take the same position for a play and we may still exercise our right to prevent a production of a pantomime.
Help Prevent Copyright Abuse
Authors have the right to have their Intellectual Property respected and earn an income from their work. Jasper Publishing acts on behalf of these Authors to help protect their rights.
Everyone suffers if a production is cancelled as a result of copyright infringement.
As a member of a drama group, if you are aware of Copyright Infringement, such as rehearsals using photocopied scripts or public performances planned or performed without a Performing Licence, then you can remind the drama group officer's of their responsibility. If that fails, you can report these abuses anonymously on our website at Whistleblower
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