The collective management organizations ProLitteris, SSA, SUISA, SUISSIMAGE and SWISSPERFORM are jointly commenting on the consultation draft of 24.05.2023 (Federal Act on Copyright and Related Rights – related right for journalistic publications). The Swiss collective management organizations, which jointly operate under the name «Swisscopyright», have assessed the proposal from a legal perspective and in terms of feasibility.
They welcome the planned amendment of the Copyright Act. The Federal Council has drafted an appropriate law. The collective management organizations in particular welcome the following four elements of the concept, which differ from the similarly structured EU related right:
First, the Swiss proposal uses the proven system of mandatory collective management: tariff procedures and distribution systems of the collective management organizations. A prohibition of use is not introduced.
Second, the proposal concerns the targeted service, the journalistic publications, as a whole. The use, however, may also cover only snippets and thumbnails. Hyperlinks, i.e. references to other addresses, are not subject to royalty.
Third, the criteria for the amount of the royalties deviate from the principle of «user’s revenue», which has so far applied to all statutory royalties, and in addition the criteria for collection differ from the criteria for distribution.
Fourth, the right to remuneration is held by the media companies, but journalists are included, for example in a ratio of 50:50 as in the «Online distribution» of ProLitteris within the framework of the established copying royalties.
You can find the detailed statement here:
Statement by the collective management organizations