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News and Developments

(1) ERA joins Alliance Against IP Theft from September 2011

The Alliance Against IP Theft is a UK based coalition of trade associations and enforcement organisations
with an interest in ensuring that copyright and other intellectual property rights receive the protection
that they need and deserve.

ERA works to promote the educational value of copyright material for the purposes of
teaching and learning.

It is hoped that ERA’s membership will ensure that the work of ERA, and the roll
out of new copyright licensing opportunities linked to educational use, will be properly taken into account within
the wider membership and the work of the Alliance.

For further information about the Alliance and its work please visit
www.allianceagainstiptheft.co.uk

(2) Discovery, National Geographic and AETN channels develop links with ERA

ERA licences cover use of the copyright works owned by ERA members.

Formal links with ERA have now been established with Discovery Communications Europe Limited,  NGC Europe Limited and AETN UK.

These broadcasters are represented within ERA by Compact Collections Limited.

Find out more about Compact Collections Limited and the rights that it represents here.

Previously the ERA Licence applied to educational recordings made from UK broadcasts on these channels
(even though the broadcaster itself was not an ERA member) but only for works and performances included
in the broadcast owned by ERA members (for example music within the repertoire of PRS).

From now on the copyright in broadcasts on these channels is covered by the scope of both the main ERA Licence and the ERA Plus Licence.

(3) FOCAL joins ERA

FOCAL International Limited has become a member of ERA.

FOCAL membership of ERA means that film and video clips and stills represented by FOCAL when included in broadcasts which are recorded and used under an ERA Licence or an ERA Plus Licence are now works expressly licensed within the
Licences.

More about FOCAL and the works it represents can be found here.

(4) Revised tariffs under the ERA Licence Scheme to apply from 1 April 2011

The Copyright (Certification of Licensing Scheme for Educational Recording of Broadcasts) (Educational Recording Agency Limited) (Amendment) Order 2011will come into force on  1 April 2011.

Statutory Instrument 2001 No 159 can be accessed by clicking the following link
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2011/159/made/data.pdf

The new Order recognises that Compact Collections Limited and FOCAL are now members of ERA and that the works covered by ERA licences now include the wider repertoire of rights.

To recognise the wider range of rights now relevant to the ERA Licence the annual tariff for licence issued by ERA from 1 April 2011 will be increased by 1p per full time or full time equivalent student in Secondary Schools and Educational Establishments
of Further Education and Higher Education. The Primary School tariff will remain unchanged.

The relevant annual tariffs from 1 April 2011 will be

Students in Primary Schools     32p Students in Secondary Schools  57p Students at FE level  £1.07 Students at HE level    £1.68

 

For the full Scheme please download the ERA Appendix.                

(5) New members of ERA increase repertoire for ERA Plus. Revised tariffs to apply from 1 April 2011.

Formal links with ERA have now been established with Discovery Communications Europe Limited,  NGC Europe Limited and AETN UK.

These broadcasters are represented within ERA by Compact Collections Limited. In addition FOCAL (representing many film clips and stills) are now members of ERA.

To recognise the wider range of rights now relevant to the ERA Plus Licence the annual tariff for licence issued by ERA from 1 April 2011 will be increased by 1p per full time or full time equivalent student in Secondary Schools and Educational Establishments of Further Education. The Primary School and HE  tariffs will remain unchanged.

The relevant annual tariffs from 1 April 2011 will be

Students in Primary Schools	16p
Students in Secondary Schools	29p
Students at FE level	54p
Students at HE level	84p

For the full Scheme please download the ERA Plus Appendix.

(6) ERA + The Benefits Explained - Free Conference

How to implement online services based on the ERA Plus Licence

Thursday 9 September 2010

10.30am - 3.30pm

BAFTA, 195 Picadilly

• Are you an existing or potential ERA Plus Licence holder?
• Want to understand the benefits and requirements of the ERA Plus Licence?
• Developing your own online video system for television and radio delivery?
• interested in making television and radio recordings available off-campus
• Want to understand the importance of GeoIP and authentication

Free to attend - Places are limited booking is ESSENTIAL

Please visit the BUFVC website to book: www.bufvc.ac.uk/eraplus

For further information please download the leaflet

Download a booking form

(7) ERA Licences and Catch up Television and similar video on-demand services

• Please contact ERA for further information.

How can I get hold of and use a copy of a programme made available on Catch up TV or similar video on demand services service for educational use?

The ERA licence covers recording of a programme as broadcast, provided that the recording is made by or on behalf of an educational establishment which holds an ERA Licence. Recordings can then be kept and used under the ERA licence for future reference provided any future use is for non commercial educational purposes.

In addition, the ERA Plus Licence allows educational establishments to relay recordings to students when they are not on the premises of the licensed educational establishment.

It should be noted that even if an educational establishment could use programmes from Catch up TV services or similar video on demand services for its educational purposes under the terms and conditions, it would not be possible for the educational establishment to keep programmes for future use. This is because digital rights management prevents any programmes made available via the service being kept or available beyond specified "expiry dates".

There are arrangements in place whereby an educational establishment can obtain a copy of a recording made from a broadcast for use under the ERA Licence if it was unable to record the broadcast itself.

If you need further information about this, please contact ERA by emailing era@era.org.uk

What is to stop programmes being recorded directly from a Catch up TV service?

The personal, non-commercial use permitted by Catch up TV terms and conditions of use does not extend to use by educational establishments in any way that would be involve the educational establishment storing copies, or extracts, of programmes taken from the service, or their subsequent "communication" to teachers and pupils.

Instead, when copies are made from, or sourced from a broadcast as described above, the programmes can then be copied and used for educational purposes if your educational establishment continues to hold an ERA Licence (and ERA Plus Licence for establishments who wish to be able to allow students to access the recordings when the are not on the premises of the licensed educational establishment).

(8) Revised tariffs under ERA Licence Scheme confirmed with effect from 1 April 2009. (posted 17 February 2009)

The Copyright (Certification of Licensing Scheme for Educational Recording of Broadcasts) (Educational Recording Agency Limited) (Amendment) Order 2009 - Statutory Instrument 2009 No. 20 will now come into force on 1st April 2009.

This confirms that the annual tariff for licences issued by ERA from 1st April 2009 will be calculated on a full-time or full-time equivalent per head basis by category of student in an Educational Establishment:

• Students in Primary Schools (including Educational Establishments known as Preparatory Schools) - 32p
• Students in Secondary Schools - 56p
• Students in Educational Establishments of Further Education (including Sixth Form Colleges) - £1.06
• Students in Educational Establishments of Higher Education (including Higher Education Colleges, Theological Colleges and Universities) - £1.67

Students in Educational Establishments not listed above specified from time to time by the Secretary of State under s 174 of the Act.

Discounted rates may be negotiated at ERA’s discretion to cover Groups of Educational Establishments.

S.I. 2009 No. 20 can be accessed in full by clicking on the following link http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2009/pdf/uksi_20090020_en.pdf

(9) Proposed revision of ERA tariffs from 1 April 2009 (posted 20 October 2008)

In 2006 The Gowers Review of Intellectual Property recommended possible changes to the scope of s35 Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.These changes might have resulted in ERA being able to offer both the main ERA Licence and the ERA Plus Licence linked directly to a revised section 35.

Following delays in the consultation process, it is now clear that no changes to the scope of section 35 will be implemented before 1 April 2009 . (Most annual licences for schools start on 1 April).

As a result ERA has applied for recertification of the current scheme to cover an RPI adjustment to tariffs from 1 April 2009. Similar adjustments will be made to tariffs relevant to the ERA Plus Licence Scheme.

Further details

(10) ERA joins Federation Against Copyright Theft (posted 6 May 2008)

Promoting a better understanding of what is, and what is not permitted under ERA Licences is central to the work of ERA.

However, with increasing use of online technologies to help make licensed ERA recordings available for educational use, ERA is aware that some recordings of broadcasts may be being used in ways that do not fall within the scope of the ERA licence.

Unauthorised use may arise when individuals or companies who are not licensed educational establishments store or make available to others copies of recordings of broadcasts.

ERA has therefore joined with FACT to help promote a better understanding of the scope of the ERA and the new ERA Plus Licence.

Inspections for licence compliance have always been a part of ERA licence requirements. These now need to be developed to reflect increasing use of servers to house libraries of off-air recordings and the way in which these are made available for educational use.

FACT representatives may therefore contact ERA licensees and check licence compliance in a similar way to visits that are made by ERA's Field Liaison officers.

For further information about FACT and its work please visit www.fact-uk.org.uk

(11) New Members recognised in Statutory Instrument (posted 1 May 2008)

The admission of AGICOA and Directors UK Limited (formerly known as DPRS) as ERA members was formally recognised from 1 April 2008 in The Copyright (Certification of Licensing Scheme for Educational Recording of Broadcasts) (Educational Recording Agency Limited) (Revocation and Amendment) Order 2008.

A copy of the Order (S.I 2008 No 211) can be found at www.opsi.gov.uk

The effect is to confirm a further extension of the rights represented by ERA for the purposes of its Licences.

The new Order now lists all the ERA members in a new clause which replaces clause 8 of the Schedule to the 2007 Order (S.I 2007 No.266).

Other than this, the terms of the 2007 Order remain in force. The 2007 Order set out the tariffs which apply to ERA Licences issued after 1 April 2008.

Finally the 2008 Order revoked the Statutory Instrument linked to the ERA licence scheme that was put in place back in 2005 (S.I. 2005 No 222). The 2005 Order was relevant to ERA Licences issued up to 31 March 2007 and has therefore been superseded by the 2007 and 2008 Orders.

(12) New Members (posted 28 August 2007)

ERA continues to work to ensure the rights that it represents enable ERA Licences (and the recently launched ERA Plus Licence) to cover the widest possible repertoire for the benefit of licensees.

To reflect this, two new representative rights bodies have joined ERA as members with effect from 1 July 2007.

The two new members are :

• AGICOA (representing owners of feature film rights and independent films where rights are not owned or controlled by UK broadcaster members of ERA) ; and
• DPRS (representing directors of films and television programmes).

All the other ERA members have agreed to admit the new members from 1 July 2007 so that ERA licensees who choose to take out an ERA Plus Licence will benefit from ERA’s increased repertoire with effect from this date.

However, it will take a little time before the Statutory Instrument under which the main ERA licence scheme currently operates, is updated to include details of the new members.

The current Statutory Instrument is SI 2007 No 266 - The Copyright (Certification of Licensing Scheme for Educational Recording of Broadcasts) (Educational Recording Agency Limited) Order 2007.

An application has been made for SI 2007 No 266 to be updated. This requests that clause 8 of the ERA Licence is changed to include the following additional details for Licensor Members of ERA :

“ASSOCIATION DE GESTON INTERNATIONALE COLLECTIVE DES OEUVRES AUDIOVISUELLES (“AGICOA ”) The films which are owned or controlled by persons represented by AGICOA and which are included in any broadcast from which an ERA Recording is made.

DIRECTORS’ & PRODUCERS’ RIGHTS SOCIETY (1992) LIMITED (“DPRS”) The copyright works which are owned or controlled by, or in which authorship is owned or controlled by, persons represented by DPRS and which are included in any broadcast from which an ERA Recording is made.”

The ERA Licence will be formally amended once the updated Statutory Instrument has been implemented.

(13) ERA Plus (posted August 2007)

Click here for more information on ERA Plus

(14) From 1 April 2007

ERA licences issued after 1 April 2007 reflect new tariffs set out in The Copyright (Certification of Licensing Scheme for Educational Recording of Broadcasts) (Educational Recording of Broadcasts) (Educational Recording Agency Limited) Order 2007.

The full order can be obtained from HMSO quoting the reference Statutory Instruments 2007 No. 266.

For licences issued prior to 1 April 2007, the terms will continue to operate to the end of their 1 year term by cross reference to The Copyright (Certification of Licensing Scheme for Educational Recording of Broadcasts) (Educational Recording Agency Limited) Order 2005.

The 2005 Order can be obtained from HMSO quoting the reference Statutory Instruments 2005 No. 222.

(15) DVD Labels

DVD labels are now available to order. Contact ERA for more details.

(16) ERA Snapshot Survey

The ERA Statistical Survey of Off-air Recording in Educational Establishments has now been completed. In its place, ERA is now conducting a much smaller scale snapshot survey of off-air recording. This will enable ERA to build up a more detailed picture of use of recorded broadcast material in individual establishments using both statistical and anecdotal information.

(17) Copyright Information for Schools - New Booklet

As members of the Schools Working Group of the Rights Industry Forum, ERA has produced, in conjunction with five other organisations (Performing Right Society, Copyright Licensing Agency, Phonographic Performance Limited, Christian Copyright Licensing (Europe) Ltd, Mechanical Copyright Protection Society and Music Publishers Association), a booklet giving guidance on copyright matters to schools in the UK.

This booklet has now been redesigned and contains updated information on many kinds of activities that may require a copyright licence. Copies of the leaflet have been mailed to the Headteacher and Chair of Governors of every school in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Further copies are available to ERA Licence holders. A portal website has been developed to support the leaflet and can be accessed at www.licensing-copyright.org.

Download a copy of the booklet

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