American Society for Collective Rights Licensing
ASCRL MEMBERSHIP AGREEMENT
PART IV.
ASCRL CLAIMS PROCEDURES COLLECTIONS AND DISTRIBUTIONS
A. Collection Policies and Practices.
ASCRL may endeavor from time to time to collect reprographic funds for Reprographic Rights from foreign reprographic rights organizations (“RROS”), and from collective management organizations (“CMOS”), (herein referred to as “Sister Societies”), in various foreign countries throughout the world. The ASCRL Board of Directors, under the supervision of the ASCRL Board of Advisors, shall solely determine the sources and nature of collections from Sister Societies, and shall solely determine the terms and conditions of any agreements pursuant to which the collections shall be undertaken, administered, and distributed.
B. Claims Process and Procedures.
(i) General Funds, including Non-Author and or Non-Title Specific Funds, for which you are eligible, shall be distributable to you only in accordance with ASCRL’s policies and procedures for the distribution of such funds.
(ii) Author and or Title Specific Funds for which you are eligible shall be distributable to you only in accordance with ASCRL’s policies and procedures for the distribution of such funds.
(iii) ASCRL may from time to time establish claims periods for you to claim funds for which you may become eligible.
(iv) You agree to submit your claims during the open claims period, through the ASCRL website application for the processing of claims.
(v) You shall provide complete and accurate information for the distribution of the funds, and shall provide any qualifying information that may be requested by ASCRL for the purposes of processing your claim.
(vi) You shall not be entitled to receive any funds if you are in violation of, or if you are not in strict compliance with, applicable claims processes and procedures, or the terms of the ASCRL Mandate or ASCRL Membership Agreement
C. Distribution Formulas and Rules.
(i) Computations of Disbursements. The ASCRL Board of Directors, under the supervision of the ASCRL Board of Advisors, shall establish the distribution rules for claims, and for each claims period. The determination of the Board of Directors concerning the rules to be employed for distributions are final and binding, unless subsequently changed or modified by the Board of Directors. You agree to be bound by the distribution rules and all other rules established by ASCRL governing any and all claims for which you may become eligible.
(ii) Distribution Rules. Distribution rules are published, from time to time, by ASCRL on the ASCRL web site. You agree to monitor the ASCRL website to familiarize yourself with the distribution rules applicable to claims.
(iii) Distribution amounts are dependent on several factors, including, without limitation a) contractual obligations to Sister Societies, b) the amounts collected and administration fees withheld by foreign societies at the source, c) the number of claimants eligible for distribution from an applicable fund pool, d) the types of claimants determined to be eligible to claim for a fund, e) the number of works and the frequency of their publication entitled to and qualifying for distributable amounts, f) reserves that may be established against fund pools for unclaimed funds, g) forfeitures and failed transactions and funds repatriated to distribution pools, h) amounts payable for fund processing, i) board established rules for weightings established by the Board of Directors based on the policy positions of the Board of Directors and the Board of Advisors concerning the class of claimants entitled to distributions and the basis upon which distributions might be made, i) the fees and retentions ASCRL establishes for the continued operation of the organization, its worldwide collections, fund administration and distribution, and the expenses associated therewith, and j) ceilings and floors for distributions that may be established by the ASCRL Board of Directors, and h) other factors as are applicable from time to time and as determined by the ASCRL Board of Directors. ASCRL may change the distribution rules at any time for any reason, and will publish such changes on the ASCRL website.
D. Formula Factors.
(i) Basic Eligibility For Claim Filing.
In addition to the eligibility requirements for the domestic and foreign authors, you must be the author and or copyright owner of three (3) commercially published works. A commercially published work is one that appears in a publication for which you have been paid, or that appears in a publication that is for sale, that appears on the website of a commercial enterprise, or that is available on a website that is offered on a subscription basis, that is a newspaper, magazine, journal, news reporting or editorial publication.
You must provide the title of your work, the publication in which it appears, and the ISBN number or ISSN number of the publication in which the work appears, or the complete URL of the qualifying website on which your work appears.
You must preserve evidence of your three (3) publications and in the event you are audited you must present ASCRL with the evidence of publication.
(ii) Frequency of Publication.
You must report the number of visual works that you have that have appeared in qualifying publications, and you must report the number of times those works have appeared in publications. You are not required to list each published work, and you are not required to list each publication in which the published work appears. However, you must preserve evidence of the information you provided, and in the event that you are audited you must present ASCRL with the evidence of publication. The frequency of your publications may be used by the ASCRL Board of Directors to give a weighting to the amount for which you may be eligible, relative to other authors or rights owners who may have greater or fewer publications, or whose works may be published with greater or lesser frequency.
(iii) Author or Title Specific Eligibility
Some RROs and CMOs report funds that are attributable to the works of certain authors, by title, by name, or both. If your name matches any of the names provided to ASCRL by the RRO or CMO, your eligibility for that fund pool will appear in your account on the ASCRL website. If the title of the work is reported to ASCRL by the RRO or CMO, but not your name, ASCRL may match that title to any title you enter. If you do not wish to receive title specific distributions you do not need to enter any titles in addition to your three (3) titles required for basic eligibility. If you do not apply for a title during any applicable claims period you will forfeit your eligibility for the title as of the close of the claims period, and any funds attributable to you will be vested in ASCRL for operations, or will be redistributed in whole or in part to a fund pool as determined by the Board of Directors.
(iv) The ASCRL Board of Directors, subject to the supervision of the ASCRL Board of Advisors, shall determine the factors considered in, and the rules applicable to distributions to members. The factors and rules may take into account information provided by, their rules and regulations, information that provide from surveys, audits, and samplings, and other information deemed relevant to the Board of Directors. In the event that you disagree with the applicable factors or rules, you may terminate your mandate and membership at any time in accordance with the termination provisions of this ASCRL Membership Agreement. ASCRL may publish the specific rules applicable, from time to time, to any particular claims period on the ASCRL website. Such termination shall be your sole and exclusive remedy with respect to any dispute that you may have regarding such factors and or rules.
E. Filing Claims.
You must be an active member of ASCRL in order to be eligible for funds, and in order to submit claims. Claims periods for the claims pools for which you are eligible are established by ASCRL one or more times per year, and the claims periods are open for the duration of time specified on the claims portal, which period is typically a one (1) year period. The claims pools for which you are eligible appear in your account Dashboard on the ASCRL website. Your active membership in ASCRL entitles you to make a claim for claims pools for which you are eligible. In order to make a claim, you must submit the claim while you are an active member and while the claims period is open and you agree not to file any claims that are late or untimely. If you fail to make a claim during the claims period, you will forfeit your eligibility and any funds to which you may otherwise have claimed will be redistributed to other recipients in fund pools as determined by the ASCRL Board of Directors under the supervision of the ASCRL Advisory Board.
F. Un-distributable Royalties.
If ASCRL is unable to distribute your share of reprographic funds from any claims period for any reason (e.g., and without limitation, because you do not make a claim, or because you do not provide necessary information or ASCRL is unable to locate you at the time a distribution is to be made), then ASCRL may reserve your reprographic funds for distribution to you, and may solicit such information or make efforts to locate you in accordance with ASCRL’s policies, as modified from time to time, for a period of one (1) year after the close of the claims period (the “Reserve Period”), which period ASCRL may extend or shorten in its sole discretion.
G. Forfeitures.
Your rights to reprographic funds shall become vested in you upon and only upon your actual receipt of reprographic funds from ASCRL, and not upon the establishment of a claims period, your eligibility, or your submission of a claim. At the end of the Reserve Period, any and all right, title and interest to any undistributed reprographic funds not distributed to and received by you prior to the expiration of the Reserve Period, including without limitation any resulting from failed transactions arising from your provision of faulty, expired, or inaccurate payment information, shall fully and absolutely vest in ASCRL, and ASCRL may use the un-distributable reprographic funds to offset costs of administration and operations. Upon forfeiture, you shall have no claim, title, or interest to the forfeited reprographic funds. In no event shall ASCRL claim un-distributable reprographic funds earlier than permitted this ASCRL Membership Agreement. Notwithstanding the foregoing, reprographic funds may be returnable to the applicable foreign Sister Society in accordance with ASCRL’s agreement with such organization, or may be redistributed, in whole or in part, to other ASCRL members, as determined from time to time, by the ASCRL Board of Directors. You agree to keep and maintain your Dashboard, Registration, and Claims information current, and you shall be responsible for making sure that it is accurate at all times.
H. Agreement to Collection and Distribution Terms.
You agree that all reprographic funds that are collected by ASCRL shall be shared and paid to ASCRL members in accordance with the ASCRL Mandate, and the ASCRL Membership Agreement, as they may be amended from time to time in accordance with the applicable provisions of this ASCRL Membership Agreement and ASCRL Mandate, and as determined by, and in accordance with, the rules that are established, from time to time, by the Board of Directors under the Supervision of the ASCRL Board of Advisors.
I. Errors in Processing.
You agree that you shall fully cooperate with ASCRL for the purpose of correcting any errors that occur in connection with the processing of payments, and that you shall promptly report to ASCRL any errors that you may discover. If you receive funds in error, you agree to return such funds.
PART IV.
ASCRL CLAIMS PROCEDURES COLLECTIONS AND DISTRIBUTIONS
A. Collection Policies and Practices.
ASCRL may endeavor from time to time to collect reprographic funds for Reprographic Rights from foreign reprographic rights organizations (“RROS”), and from collective management organizations (“CMOS”), (herein referred to as “Sister Societies”), in various foreign countries throughout the world. The ASCRL Board of Directors, under the supervision of the ASCRL Board of Advisors, shall solely determine the sources and nature of collections from Sister Societies, and shall solely determine the terms and conditions of any agreements pursuant to which the collections shall be undertaken, administered, and distributed.
B. Claims Process and Procedures.
(i) General Funds, including Non-Author and or Non-Title Specific Funds, for which you are eligible, shall be distributable to you only in accordance with ASCRL’s policies and procedures for the distribution of such funds.
(ii) Author and or Title Specific Funds for which you are eligible shall be distributable to you only in accordance with ASCRL’s policies and procedures for the distribution of such funds.
(iii) ASCRL may from time to time establish claims periods for you to claim funds for which you may become eligible.
(iv) You agree to submit your claims during the open claims period, through the ASCRL website application for the processing of claims.
(v) You shall provide complete and accurate information for the distribution of the funds, and shall provide any qualifying information that may be requested by ASCRL for the purposes of processing your claim.
(vi) You shall not be entitled to receive any funds if you are in violation of, or if you are not in strict compliance with, applicable claims processes and procedures, or the terms of the ASCRL Mandate or ASCRL Membership Agreement
C. Distribution Formulas and Rules.
(i) Computations of Disbursements. The ASCRL Board of Directors, under the supervision of the ASCRL Board of Advisors, shall establish the distribution rules for claims, and for each claims period. The determination of the Board of Directors concerning the rules to be employed for distributions are final and binding, unless subsequently changed or modified by the Board of Directors. You agree to be bound by the distribution rules and all other rules established by ASCRL governing any and all claims for which you may become eligible.
(ii) Distribution Rules. Distribution rules are published, from time to time, by ASCRL on the ASCRL web site. You agree to monitor the ASCRL website to familiarize yourself with the distribution rules applicable to claims.
(iii) Distribution amounts are dependent on several factors, including, without limitation a) contractual obligations to Sister Societies, b) the amounts collected and administration fees withheld by foreign societies at the source, c) the number of claimants eligible for distribution from an applicable fund pool, d) the types of claimants determined to be eligible to claim for a fund, e) the number of works and the frequency of their publication entitled to and qualifying for distributable amounts, f) reserves that may be established against fund pools for unclaimed funds, g) forfeitures and failed transactions and funds repatriated to distribution pools, h) amounts payable for fund processing, i) board established rules for weightings established by the Board of Directors based on the policy positions of the Board of Directors and the Board of Advisors concerning the class of claimants entitled to distributions and the basis upon which distributions might be made, i) the fees and retentions ASCRL establishes for the continued operation of the organization, its worldwide collections, fund administration and distribution, and the expenses associated therewith, and j) ceilings and floors for distributions that may be established by the ASCRL Board of Directors, and h) other factors as are applicable from time to time and as determined by the ASCRL Board of Directors. ASCRL may change the distribution rules at any time for any reason, and will publish such changes on the ASCRL website.
D. Formula Factors.
(i) Basic Eligibility For Claim Filing.
In addition to the eligibility requirements for the domestic and foreign authors, you must be the author and or copyright owner of three (3) commercially published works. A commercially published work is one that appears in a publication for which you have been paid, or that appears in a publication that is for sale, that appears on the website of a commercial enterprise, or that is available on a website that is offered on a subscription basis, that is a newspaper, magazine, journal, news reporting or editorial publication.
You must provide the title of your work, the publication in which it appears, and the ISBN number or ISSN number of the publication in which the work appears, or the complete URL of the qualifying website on which your work appears.
You must preserve evidence of your three (3) publications and in the event you are audited you must present ASCRL with the evidence of publication.
(ii) Frequency of Publication.
You must report the number of visual works that you have that have appeared in qualifying publications, and you must report the number of times those works have appeared in publications. You are not required to list each published work, and you are not required to list each publication in which the published work appears. However, you must preserve evidence of the information you provided, and in the event that you are audited you must present ASCRL with the evidence of publication. The frequency of your publications may be used by the ASCRL Board of Directors to give a weighting to the amount for which you may be eligible, relative to other authors or rights owners who may have greater or fewer publications, or whose works may be published with greater or lesser frequency.
(iii) Author or Title Specific Eligibility
Some RROs and CMOs report funds that are attributable to the works of certain authors, by title, by name, or both. If your name matches any of the names provided to ASCRL by the RRO or CMO, your eligibility for that fund pool will appear in your account on the ASCRL website. If the title of the work is reported to ASCRL by the RRO or CMO, but not your name, ASCRL may match that title to any title you enter. If you do not wish to receive title specific distributions you do not need to enter any titles in addition to your three (3) titles required for basic eligibility. If you do not apply for a title during any applicable claims period you will forfeit your eligibility for the title as of the close of the claims period, and any funds attributable to you will be vested in ASCRL for operations, or will be redistributed in whole or in part to a fund pool as determined by the Board of Directors.
(iv) The ASCRL Board of Directors, subject to the supervision of the ASCRL Board of Advisors, shall determine the factors considered in, and the rules applicable to distributions to members. The factors and rules may take into account information provided by, their rules and regulations, information that provide from surveys, audits, and samplings, and other information deemed relevant to the Board of Directors. In the event that you disagree with the applicable factors or rules, you may terminate your mandate and membership at any time in accordance with the termination provisions of this ASCRL Membership Agreement. ASCRL may publish the specific rules applicable, from time to time, to any particular claims period on the ASCRL website. Such termination shall be your sole and exclusive remedy with respect to any dispute that you may have regarding such factors and or rules.
E. Filing Claims.
You must be an active member of ASCRL in order to be eligible for funds, and in order to submit claims. Claims periods for the claims pools for which you are eligible are established by ASCRL one or more times per year, and the claims periods are open for the duration of time specified on the claims portal, which period is typically a one (1) year period. The claims pools for which you are eligible appear in your account Dashboard on the ASCRL website. Your active membership in ASCRL entitles you to make a claim for claims pools for which you are eligible. In order to make a claim, you must submit the claim while you are an active member and while the claims period is open and you agree not to file any claims that are late or untimely. If you fail to make a claim during the claims period, you will forfeit your eligibility and any funds to which you may otherwise have claimed will be redistributed to other recipients in fund pools as determined by the ASCRL Board of Directors under the supervision of the ASCRL Advisory Board.
F. Un-distributable Royalties.
If ASCRL is unable to distribute your share of reprographic funds from any claims period for any reason (e.g., and without limitation, because you do not make a claim, or because you do not provide necessary information or ASCRL is unable to locate you at the time a distribution is to be made), then ASCRL may reserve your reprographic funds for distribution to you, and may solicit such information or make efforts to locate you in accordance with ASCRL’s policies, as modified from time to time, for a period of one (1) year after the close of the claims period (the “Reserve Period”), which period ASCRL may extend or shorten in its sole discretion.
G. Forfeitures.
Your rights to reprographic funds shall become vested in you upon and only upon your actual receipt of reprographic funds from ASCRL, and not upon the establishment of a claims period, your eligibility, or your submission of a claim. At the end of the Reserve Period, any and all right, title and interest to any undistributed reprographic funds not distributed to and received by you prior to the expiration of the Reserve Period, including without limitation any resulting from failed transactions arising from your provision of faulty, expired, or inaccurate payment information, shall fully and absolutely vest in ASCRL, and ASCRL may use the un-distributable reprographic funds to offset costs of administration and operations. Upon forfeiture, you shall have no claim, title, or interest to the forfeited reprographic funds. In no event shall ASCRL claim un-distributable reprographic funds earlier than permitted this ASCRL Membership Agreement. Notwithstanding the foregoing, reprographic funds may be returnable to the applicable foreign Sister Society in accordance with ASCRL’s agreement with such organization, or may be redistributed, in whole or in part, to other ASCRL members, as determined from time to time, by the ASCRL Board of Directors. You agree to keep and maintain your Dashboard, Registration, and Claims information current, and you shall be responsible for making sure that it is accurate at all times.
H. Agreement to Collection and Distribution Terms.
You agree that all reprographic funds that are collected by ASCRL shall be shared and paid to ASCRL members in accordance with the ASCRL Mandate, and the ASCRL Membership Agreement, as they may be amended from time to time in accordance with the applicable provisions of this ASCRL Membership Agreement and ASCRL Mandate, and as determined by, and in accordance with, the rules that are established, from time to time, by the Board of Directors under the Supervision of the ASCRL Board of Advisors.
I. Errors in Processing.
You agree that you shall fully cooperate with ASCRL for the purpose of correcting any errors that occur in connection with the processing of payments, and that you shall promptly report to ASCRL any errors that you may discover. If you receive funds in error, you agree to return such funds.
