A copyright agent manages revenue-generating opportunities, fulfills usage requests, negotiates licensing agreements, and ensures compliance. They work with clients to design a strategy for effective use of copyrighted material and stay up-to-date with copyright legislation. They also work with deceased celebrities’ properties to prevent exploitation and ensure legal heirs receive their entitled money.
A copyright agent is hired to pursue revenue-generating opportunities for creators and owners of copyrighted works. The agent is also responsible for fulfilling usage requests, negotiating and preparing licensing agreements for its customers. Agent duties generally include ensuring compliance by licensees and litigating unauthorized use of copyrighted works; therefore, this work is usually performed by lawyers who specialize in intellectual property law. A copyright agent, however, does not have to be a lawyer.
To protect the interests of its clients, a copyright agent must stay up-to-date with ever-changing copyright legislation. Ideally, a copyright agent should also be diligent in tracking royalties as well as unlicensed use of the client’s copyrighted work. When infringements are discovered, it is the copyright agent who usually initiates a copyright infringement lawsuit and recovers payment for the client.
Copyright agents also work directly with clients to design a strategy for how the client’s copyrighted material can be used most effectively. Marketing and advertising campaigns, brand licensing, and control of a creator’s name or likeness are usually handled by the copyright agent. For example, if a company wanted to use the music of a popular music artist to sell a product in an advertising campaign, the company would first contact the artist’s copyright agent for permission. A licensing fee for the song would then be negotiated between the copyright agent and the advertising corporation or agency, usually involving future royalty payments whenever the commercial was rebroadcast. The copyright agent and/or the copyright owner’s attorney must ensure that proper agreements are signed by all parties and that the terms of the license agreement are adhered to.
A growing trend in recent years has been the use of copyright agents for the properties of famous deceased people. This is to prevent exploitation of deceased celebrities’ works or right of publicity. It also ensures that the creator’s legal heirs are not cheated out of money they may be entitled to. Some well-known examples involve the control of John Lennon’s music, the image of Elvis Presley and the licensing of products based on Charles Schulz’s “Peanuts” comic strip.
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