GLOBAL LEADER FOR WORLD MUSIC ON THE INTERNET
SIGNS PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT WITH INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATION
FOR THE DEFENCE OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

 

Blacksound.com, world leader for the distribution of world music via the Internet (downloading in MP3 format and delivery on CD) has signed a partnership agreement with the non-governmental organisation lnterDeposit Digital Number, an international federation made up of organisations concerned by the protection of intellectual property rights over digital works.

Under this agreement, the company Blacksound Ltd. is now a member of the lnterDeposit network and will therefore be able to identify all its music files by the IDDN system.

The company Blacksound is thus adopting the IDDN standard as an instrument of protection and management for its intellectual property rights.

 

l) The benefits of the IDDN system are as follows:

Enforcement of rights:
The on-line registration or deposit system for digital works set up by lnterDeposit will provide Blacksound Ltd with a recognised method for asserting its intellectual property rights throughout the world and ensuring that its title to music files is binding on any third parties that may wish to use them.

On-line user licence:
With the IDDN system, every type of work (website, text, logo, photograph, animated or still picture, sound, music, etc.) regardless of size or format (MP3, midi, Real Audio) can be attributed a digital certificate, representing a kind of international registration plate for the work and containing its identification details: title of work, name and electronic address of rightholder, as well as a user licence.

Cybernauts who have access to a music file must accept the conditions of use before downloading: the licence is authenticated by lnterDeposit, a system that will become commonplace in the area of e-commerce. This procedure thus creates an electronic contract between user and rightholder.

On-line settlement of disputes:
In the event of any failure to comply with this user licence, the arbitration centre of the World Intellectual Property Organisation in Geneva will be competent for the on-line arbitration of the dispute in accordance with the law of the country corresponding to the nationality of the work as described in the IDDN certificate, on the basis of the licence agreed on line.

Stopping infringement on the Internet :
lnterDeposit has entrusted the Agency for the Protection of Programs (APP) in Paris, founder member of the lnterDeposit network, with the task of tracking down any unlawful use of works identified by the IDDN system.

For this purpose, the APP uses Paris-based agents who have been sworn in by the French Ministry of Culture, and their assignment is to carry out checks for any unlawful use of the works of Blacksound Ltd. identified by the IDDN system and to draw up judicial reports of infringement anywhere in the world.

The sworn agents of the APP will also be able to initiate out-of-court actions for the purpose of putting a stop to the unlawful distribution of music files via websites.

 

II) Transparent and direct management of intellectual property rights

Blacksound Ltd., by entering into this partnership agreement, is taking an active part in the moves to protect and ensure compliance with intellectual property rights on the Internet.

Promoting young talent:
BLACKSOUND LTD has made its website and e-commerce platform available for the benefit of up-and-coming performing artists, to help them disseminate their new musical works.

Blacksound Ltd., entrusted with the distribution of works in MP3 format and on CDs, pays back some of the proceeds from its sales directly to the authors or their successors.

Licensed distributor for record companies
Blacksound Ltd. has signed agreements under which it is licensed to distribute works from the music catalogues of record companies, especially in MP3 format.

Blacksound: additional services
Blacksound Ltd., by the IDDN system, provides a valuable add-on service for authors and rightholders alike.

The IDDN system on the one hand succeeds in protecting authors against infringement and on the other represents a way of monitoring sales.

IDDN is a perfectly transparent system for verification purposes: authors can contact lnterDeposit and, as a third-party certifier, it is able to inform them of the number of user connections to the IDDN certificate and therefore to the corresponding work.

Authors can therefore compare this information with the royalties paid by Blacksound.

For all these reasons, Blacksound remains unquestionably THE music site for the promotion of performing artists.

BLACKSOUND LTD. was created as a start-up in February 1999 to promote performing artists from Africa, South America and the Caribbean via the Internet, and especially to use e-commerce to sell CDs and audio-cassettes, as well as selling musical works in digital form that can be downloaded directly, especially in Mpeg Layer 3 and Real Audio formats.

lnterDeposit Digital Number, set up on 10 January 1994, is an NGO (non-governmental organisation) made up of organisations concerned by the defence of authors of digital works. It has devised an international identification system giving access to information about the ownership of rights and conditions of use. The system is compatible with other standards currently being studied and allows the management of rights either directly or via the intermediary of third parties (publishers, literary agents or performing rights societies). Under an agreement with the WIPO arbitration centre, it is possible to conduct international arbitration proceedings on line (cyber-arbitration). It should be pointed out that the IDDN international identifier is covered by article 12 of the WIPO International Copyright Treaty of 20 December 1996, providing for legal remedies against any removal or alteration of electronic rights management information and identification.

WIPO, The World Intellectual Property Organisation is a specialised agency of the United Nations with its head offices in Geneva. Its creation dates back to the signing in 1883 of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property and, in 1886 of the Bern Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works. Its Arbitration and Mediation Centre is an administrative division of the International Bureau of the WIPO which supervises procedures and is responsible for the various services related to mediation and arbitration in the field of intellectual property.

 

Contacts

Blacksound Ltd.
Mamadou M'Baye
49 B, Chemin d'Eysins - CH 1260 Nyon
Switzerland
Tel 41 22 362 07 17
e-mail mamadou@blacksound.com
http://www.blacksound.com

lnterDeposit Digital Number
Geneva
Cyril Fabre
Chargé de mission

WTC 2 - Route de Pré-Bois 29 - 1215 Meyrin - Suisse
e-mail: cfabre@iddn.org
https://www.iddn.org

Paris
Taouès Abada
Chargée de Communication

70, rue de Ponthieu 75008 Paris
France
Tel: 01 43 59 60 61 - Fax: 01 43 59 60 64
e-mail: t.abada@iddn.org
https://www.iddn.org

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