Once the Act has commenced the following will happen:
1. When a commercial resale occurs, the seller or the seller's agent must give the Collecting Society notice in writing within 90 days of the commercial resale (s 28).
2. The Collecting Society must then publish notice of this commercial resale within a "reasonably practicable" time period (s 22).
3. Under s 23, and after 21 days of publication of this notice, the Collecting Society must then use its best endeavours to collect the resale royalty payable from the seller (the seller is the one liable to pay the royalty under s 20).
4. Once this royalty has been collected by the Collecting Society pursuant to s 23, the Collecting Society must then pay the royalty to the rights-holder (s26). There seems to be no requirement that this be done in a "reasonable" amount of time.
5. Under s 31, the Collecting Society has a period of six years to use its best endeavours to locate the rights-holder(s) and make the payment. If a rights-holder cannot be found within six years, the CS must either: (a) pay the royalty equally to the other rights-holder(s) (if any) that can be found; or (b) return the royalty, less administration fees, to the seller, if that seller can be found; or (c) if (a) and (b) are not possible, retain the amount for the administration purposes of the Collecting Society.
The Minister has indicated that the appointment of the Collecting Society will take place as soon as possible after the closure of tenders in early February.
Additonal advice provided by Middletons Lawyers, Level 26, 52 Martin Place, Sydney NSW 2000. Telephone: (02)
9513 2300.
