The International Authors Forum (IAF) participated in the IFRRO Mid-Term meetings which were held in Bucharest earlier this month, contributing to discussions on the evolving landscape of authors’ rights, collective management, and the opportunities and challenges presented by artificial intelligence and the new digital environment. IAF delegates engaged with colleagues from across the rights management community, sharing perspectives on how to ensure that authors remain fairly represented and appropriately remunerated in a rapidly changing publishing and licensing environment. As always, we participated at the Authors Group meeting in which again we tried to raise awareness about the second-hand book market and asked for enhanced discussions on the topic, following a great side event last December on the side lines of the WIPO SCCR with our colleagues La Sofia, ALCS and IFRRO.
The mid-term meetings also provided an opportunity for IAF to strengthen collaboration with IFRRO members particularly on issues related to licensing. Once more, we argued our strong commitment to the importance of collective licensing which ensures that creators are being fairly remunerated and helps them to continue creating. We insisted in the implementation of international frameworks which help support the work of creators in an ever-changing environment.
We look forward to further engagement at the upcoming international annual congress in Bogota.