IAF took part in the recent Bogota Book Fair, having been invited by The Regional Centre for the Promotion of Books in Latin America and Caribbean (CERLALC). IAF was represented by the consultant Marìa Fernanda Medoza, who participated in a number of events, including hosting a conference on our Ten Principles for Fair Contracts for Writers and Visual Artists at the International Publishers Forum.
The conference was co-hosted by Fabiana Nascimento, from AUTVIS (the Brazilian Association of Visual Arts). The audience asked fascinating questions about how to balance the power relationship between authors and publishers/producers, finding ways for both sectors to benefit from the book industry, and suggested that IAF display model contracts on its website that contain these principles.
IAF and CERLALC also co-organised a seminar on the management of visual artists’ rights, with the collaboration of two IAF members; the Mexican Collecting Society of Authors of Fine Arts (SOMAAP) and AUTVIS. The event also saw the announcement of a new collective management organisation for visual artists in Colombia, Acción Colectiva.
IAF also moderated a roundtable discussion about the opportunities, limits and risks of artificial intelligence (AI) for writers. In the discussion, the speakers commented on how the use of AI is developing without rules, especially in the academic field, so they are faced with the existence of works created “without an author” but which may also be infringing third-party rights, since it isn’t known what material was used to train that AI.
Mateo Cardona, from the Colombian Association of Translators Terminologists, Interpreters (ACTTI) commented that for translators the use of technological tools to do their work is not new, but that the risk they see now is that some publishers are beginning to use AI to do the bulk of the work, hiring translators only to review what has been produced, making translators’ livelihoods even more precarious. The panel concluded that it is imperative that there are clear and, above all, ethical rules for the use of AI as part of the creation process.
Finally, IAF participated in the Authors’ Rights Seminar organised by the Colombian National Directorate of Copyright. Marìa Fernanda Mendoza presented the Ten Principles for Fair Contracts and gave practical recommendations to authors to negotiate their rights. In a region of the world where verbal agreements are still common, emphasis was placed on the importance of having signed contracts with clear clauses that authors understand. It was emphasised that contracts should no longer be for the assignment of all rights and for eternity, only for the use of the rights that are expressly going to be exploited and for a period of time, as agreed by the parties.
The seminar is available on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHXRm85AO1AIAF
