Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2019-03-19

Regulations for the royalty payment to the rights holders of songs or musical works

- In terms of the provisions of the Intellectual Property Act, No.36 of 2003 amended by the Intellectual Property (Amendment) Act, No.7 of 2018, the rights holders of songs or musical works or the collective societies in which such rights owners hold the membership should be paid the due royalty, for the copyright and the related rights of such creations. However, it has been identified that the royalty payments are still not paid to the right holders of these songs or musical works by those who use them for commercial purposes. Therefore, it has been found that it would be more effective to issue the regulations under the Intellectual Property Act, No.36 of 2003 by repealing the Intellectual Property Regulation, No.01 of 2011 published in the Gazette Notification No.1687/28 dated 2011‑01‑05 which stipulates the specific minimum fees as royalty payments to regularize the royalty payment mechanism. As such, the proposal made by H.E. the President Maithripala Sirisena, as per the request made by the Non‑Cabinet Minister of Science,Technology & Research, to publish the regulations made by the Legal Draftsman in this regard in the Gazette and thereafter, to present the same in Parliament, was approved by the Cabinet.