The purpose of the copyright tribunal

The Copyright Tribunal (the Tribunal) is an independent tribunal established by the copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (CDPA 1988). Its role is to resolve commercial licensing disputes between copyright owners or their agents and commercial users of copyright material. The Tribunal determines the terms and conditions of collective copyright licensing schemes operated by licensing bodies and adjudicates on disputes as to the terms of the individual licences offered by such bodies.

A licensing scheme is defined under CDPA 1988, s 116(1) as ‘a scheme setting out the classes of case in which the operator of the scheme, or the person on whose behalf he acts, is willing to grant copyright licences and the terms on which licences would be granted in those classes of case’.

The Tribunal does not deal with claims for copyright infringement. These are dealt with by the civil courts.

Most collective licensing will fall within the definition of a licensing scheme. Examples of licensing schemes include those operated by Phonographic Performance Ltd (PPL)