SACD
Encyclopedia
SACD, founded as Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques (Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers) on 7 March 1829, is a French collecting society, undertaking collective rights management
Collective rights management
Collective rights management is the licensing of copyright and related rights by organizations acting on behalf of rights owners. Collective management organisations, such as collecting societies, typically represent groups of copyright and related rights owners, such as authors, composers,...

 for authors. The Society manages, promotes and protects the performance rights of theatrical, audivisual or photographic works for their creators by collecting royalties and authorising performances.

History

It can trace its origins to the French playwright Beaumarchais who brought together a group of writers on 3 July 1777 to form a "Society of Dramatic Authors" .
At the time, the all-powerful members of the Comédie Française enjoyed, and abused, a monopolistic situation whereby every author of a play written in verse was obligated to give them first refusal. And, even if accepted, the author received a pittance, in no way reflecting the success of a work such as The Barber of Seville.


On 13 January 1791, the French Assembly
National Constituent Assembly
The National Constituent Assembly was formed from the National Assembly on 9 July 1789, during the first stages of the French Revolution. It dissolved on 30 September 1791 and was succeeded by the Legislative Assembly.-Background:...

 officially recognised the concept of author's rights in a law later ratified on 19 January 1791 by Louis XVI. To quote the legislation: "the most sacred, the most unassailable and the most personal of possessions is the fruit of a writer’s thought".

Beaumarchais brought together twenty-two authors to form the first "Bureau of Dramatic Law" in 1791. Another bureau was founded in 1798, and the two were brought together on 7 March 1829 to form the Society.

Current activities

In 2006 the Society represented about 44,000 members in the performing arts and audiovisual sectors. The entire SACD repertoire currently comprises about 500,000 works, from the performing arts and the audiovisual sector.

The SACD lobbies in favor of governmental action meant to discourage unauthorized use of copyrighted works over the Internet (DADVSI
DADVSI
DADVSI is the abbreviation of the French Loi sur le Droit d’Auteur et les Droits Voisins dans la Société de l’Information...

, HADOPI) and against proposals to establish a "global license", authorizing French Internet users to copy copyrighted works in exchange for a flat fee on the Internet subscription.

In 2009, the SACD hosted a petition in favor of Roman Polanski, following his arrest.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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