Sakpatenti is Making a Statement on Another Lie regarding the Accreditation Competition, Disseminated by One of the Televisions Yesterday

Yesterday, on February 14, one of the televisions disseminated false information that allegedly the process of granting accreditation to a collective management organization was conducted in violation of the legislation. In the broadcast, the letter sent to Sakpatenti by international umbrella organizations for the protection of authors’ and related rights was mentioned.

Unfortunately this is not the first case when the assessments given in the letter of these organizations are either distorted or completely contrary to fact. We would like to remind you that on May 30, 2023, the same organizations appealed to the Culture Committee of the Parliament of Georgia and requested to withdraw the non-existent Draft Law “On Introducing Amendments into the Law of Georgia on Copyright and Related Rights” (“the Bill”). They also indicated in the letter that the Bill contradicted the EU Directives. As it was clarified soon, by that time a similar Draft Law was not at all initiated at the Parliament of Georgia. However, some media attempted to use the above-mentioned letter to discredit the ongoing reform in the field of copyright and related rights in Georgia. 

As regards the issue of compliance with the EU Directives, it was confirmed that the actual Draft Law, which entered into force on July 26, 2023, after signing by the President of Georgia, is in full compliance with the EU Directives as well as the international best practice and legislation. It is also noteworthy that the process of work on the Draft Law was going on with the involvement and support of our partners - CLDP and USAID. From the beginning of work on the Draft, transparency of the process and involvement of all stakeholders were ensured.  During drafting the Law, a number of international and other authoritative organizations were involved, together with entities working immediately in this field. Two public discussions and a number of working meetings with international experts were held regarding the Draft Law. 

One more lie in the broadcast and the letter is related to the refusal to grant accreditation to the Georgian Copyright Association (GCA). Presentation of the issue in such a way that this organization was excluded from the accreditation procedure on a technicality is another clear example of an attempt to mislead the public. In fact,  immediately after making the decision of the Commission for Accreditation, Sakpatenti published on its official website public information, where the legal grounds and reasons for making the decision on refusal as well as on granting accreditation to collective management organizations of economic rights were explained clearly and specifically.

It is confirmed that the GCA was refused to grant accreditation not due a technical reason, but due to the fact that the organization failed to comply with several important requirements defined by Article 64(1) of the Law of Georgia “On Copyright and Related Rights”, including:

• the guarantees of equal and non-discriminatory treatment for the members; 

• the mechanism of exclusion of a relevant right from the collective management system;

• the rule of communication with non-member right holders;

• the rule of fair election of the Chairman of the organization, which means that the current Charter of the Association did not include a restriction on the election of one and the same person consecutively twice;

• members of the Association were accepted by the Board of the Association, while such a decision shall be made by the General Assembly;

• the Charter did not provide for the possibility of creating a Supervisory Board and also failed to comply with other requirements established by the legislation. 

We understand that the former Chairman of GCA, Mr. Giga Kobaladze, who occupies a high position at one of the umbrella organisations, authors of the above-mentioned letter, maybe using his position to disseminate false information. However, it is an obligation of every responsible institution to verify information and search for real facts regarding the information it disseminates to the public, as similar unsubstantiated and groundless accusations may cause colossal material and reputational damage not only to the development and sustainability of the field, but also to the interests of both Georgian and foreign right holders. Against this background, dissemination of such unsubstantiated information by the media as well as the above-mentioned umbrella organizations is absolutely unacceptable.  

On its part, Sakpatenti already sent a reply to all the author organizations of the mentioned letter, in which all questions of their interest are answered on the basis of real facts.