Copyright Collective Management in the 21st Century from a Competition Law Perspective

Abstract

Collective management of copyright has had a complex legal history in the United States and elsewhere. In the U.S., two performing rights organizations (PROs), ASCAP and BMI, have been subject to antitrust prosecution and monitoring for over 70 years. This chapter summarizes the competition law context in which all copyright collective management organizations (CMOs), including PROs, are evaluated in the United States. It then reviews the history of the application of United States antitrust laws to CMOs, considering copyright collective management through an antitrust prism and the experience with the two PROs ASCAP and BMI. This history reflects the competition law challenges generally relating to CMOS. The chapter closes by considering the role of CMOs in the 21st Century from the competition law perspective.