• PRESS CONFERENCE FOR OFFICIAL LAUNCH OF MACAU ASSOCIATION OF COMPOSERS, AUTHORS & PUBLISHERS (MACA) & ANNOUNCEMENT OF LICENCE CONTRACT BETWEEN CULTURAL INSTITUTE OF MACAU (ICM) & MACA

      CISAC HAILS FORMATION OF AUTHORS’ SOCIETY IN 
     MACAU AND THE PAYMENT OF LICENCE FEES FOR THE
    USE OF MUSICAL WORKS IN CONCERTS ORGANIZED BY
    ICM IN 23rd MACAU INTERNATIONAL MUSIC FESTIVAL

     

    Macau, SAR, 6 November 2009 – CISAC hails the payment of licence fees by ICM to newly created Macau authors’ society,  MACA  for  the  public  performance  of  musical   works used in the  23rd Macau International Music Festival as both a historic and long overdue remuneration to local and foreign composers, authors and music publishers alike.
     
    The International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC), a non-profit, non-governmental  organization  that  is  officially  recognized   by   the   World    Intellectual   Property Organization ( WIPO ),  a United Nations specialist organ,  and   UNESCO,  have been collaborating with Macau authors and composers on the formation of a collective management organization for the administration of inter alia,  the public performance or communication rights in musical works in  Macau.  The Macau Association of  Composers,  Authors & Publishers ( MACA ) was thus  legally organized  and  registered  with  the  Macau  Department  of  Identification  and  the  Intellectual Property Department earlier this year.

    Subsequent to  MACA’s formation,  CISAC  arranged for the key international repertory of musical works to be entrusted to MACA for administration throughout Macau. This includes musical works from countries such as the United States of America,   the United Kingdom, Portugal, Japan,  Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, India, Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Australia, Canada, etc..  Thus, users  in this  territory need only to go to  MACA  to  obtain  a  licence for  the  public  performance rights in musical works.  

    Under the law governing copyrights in  Macau,  whenever there is a public performance  or  public communication  of  musical  works,     the  permission  of  the  local  or  foreign  copyright  owner  is required before the use may be carried out.   As  Macau is a part of the Berne Convention,  almost all of the local or foreign musical  works  publicly  performed,  broadcast  or  communicated  in  the territory,  whether by casinos,   hotels, radio and television broadcasters, cable operators, for ring tone downloads, in cinemas or over the Internet would be protected by law for which payment of royalties have to be made for their use by their respective operators.

    Thus,  we would like to reiterate that in the territory of Macau,  MACA  is now legally empowered by the international community of  composers,  authors and music publishers to license and collect royalties  for the  public performances  or  communication to the  public of  musical works that are within its repertory and control.


     

    from left to right:

    ANG KWEE TIANG (Regional Director (Asia Pacific) of CISAC)

    GONCALO CABRAL (Legal Advisor to the Secretary for DSE)

    UNG KUOC IANG (President of MAC)

    MICHEAL CHOI (Composer of Macau)

    SPENCER LEE (Deputy CEO of CASH)

    MANUEL U (Representative of Cultural Activity Dept of ICM)

    LEONG WAI SENG (Vice President of MACA)

    JOSE ANTONIO DA SILVA ( Director of MACA )