Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Related legal acts

Key definition

Collecting society definition

What does Collecting society mean? In legal practice, a collecting society is an organisation that licences use of copyright and related rights for multiple rights holders, sets and applies tariffs (often via blanket licences), collects and distributes royalties, and monitors and enforces rights where individual licensing would be impractical. Each society usually serves a defined creative sector (for example, musical works, sound recordings, audiovisual, visual art or text/reprography) and may represent overseas repertoires under reciprocal agreements. The expression is descriptive; related statutory terms include licensing body (under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988) and collective management organisation or CMO (under the UK Collective...

UK copyright collecting societies: structure, membership, licensing, regulation (CRM Regulations), the Copyright Tribunal, and extended collective licensing

Published by a LexisNexis IP expert

Practice notes

Collecting societies

This Practice Note explores collecting societies-often described as licensing bodies and/or Collective Management Organisations (CMOs)-and also considers Independent Management Entities (IMEs). It covers collective licensing, the legal and organisational status of a collecting society, an outline of UK societies, the benefits for copyright owners, disadvantages for right holders and users, the pros and cons for licensees, legal constraints on how societies operate, regulation of collecting societies, and the Collective Management of Copyright (EU Directive) Regulations 2016, SI 2016/221, also referred to as the Collective Rights Management Regulations or the CRM Regulations.

These frameworks give right holders a collective route to licence and enforce their IP where individual permissions and monitoring would be impractical. Although several societies may function within the same creative field (such as music), separate bodies will generally represent different categories of right holders.

In essence, a collecting society will:

offer membership to owners of the relevant rights within its sector
licence and enforce those rights for all of its members
collect the income from licences and distribute royalties

It addresses advantages for copyright owners, disadvantages for right holders and users, and the position of licensees, alongside statutory controls and oversight mechanisms established by the CRM Regulations...

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Justin Goldspink

GSC Solicitors LLP

I am the Head of Intellectual Property at GSC Solicitors LLP, a law firm in London and my main areas of work relate to copyright, trade marks and branding.My practice covers contentious and non-contentious work.The litigation work includes cases in the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court, High Court, Court of Appeal and Copyright Tribunal and has ranged from numerous infringement claims to an action against the UK Government for breach of European Law.I have extensive experience of intellectual property licensing, including multi-territory deals, and valuation. My work also addresses issues such as the qualification for, and ownership of, IP rights.The non-contentious work also covers assistance with legislative reviews and international trade deals....

Web page updated on 22/05/2026

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