about us

Local publishers with which DALRO has concluded and signed mandate agreements include:

Academic and Educational publishers

• Juta & Co
• Macmillan South Africa (Pty) Ltd
• Cambridge University Press(Pty) Ltd
• LexisNexis (Pty) Ltd
• Butterworths
• Oxford University Press South Africa
• Pearson Education
• Heinemann (Pty) Ltd
• UNISA Press

Newspaper and Magazine publishers:

• Media24 Limited (Newspaper Division)
• AVUSA Media Limited
• BDFM Publishers (Pty) Ltd
• Mail & Guardian Media Limited
• Independent Newspapers(Pty) Ltd
• Creamer Media (Pty) Ltd

We are affiliated to the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC) and are full members of the International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organisations (IFRRO).

DALRO is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Southern African Music Rights Organisation (SAMRO) and the Board of Directors consists of authors, publishers and copyright practitioners.

DALRO’s commission, or administration fee, for reprographic rights licensing is a standard 25% of all licence fees collected domestically. This fee is deducted from the royalties paid to both local (South African) and foreign rightsholders.

For the rights administered by DALRO’s Theatrical and General Division, the administration fee is usually negotiated between DALRO and the rightsholder, ranging from 10% for professional productions to 20% amateur productions.

The deducted administration fee goes towards DALRO’s running costs.

DALRO has two transactional distributions and one blanket distribution each year. The blanket distribution is also immediately followed by a blanket supplementary distribution.

The two transactional distributions are for rightsholders whose works (both theatrical and reprographic) have been licensed transactionally in the preceding licensing period. The blanket distribution is made up of license fees collected from blanket licensees and is distributed on the basis of usage reports received from these licensees.

The blanket supplementary distribution is based on the distribution data or ratios of the preceding blanket distribution. It is a distribution exclusively for local rightsholders and consists of income received from "repertoire swap" agreements (i.e. where royalty income is not exchanged by DALRO and the foreign RRO) and non-title specific foreign income.

(Financial year ending 30 June 2010)

Licence and Royalty Revenue (Reprographic Reproduction): R26 842 183

Licence and Royalty Revenue (Performance, Broadcast and Film rights): R1 449 712

Hire Fees: R248 311

Directors’ Report It is with pleasure that the Directors submit their Annual Report for the year ended 30 June 2011.

GENERAL REVIEW

There was no major change in the nature of the organisation’s operations in the year under review. DALRO is a copyright licensing agency which was founded in 1967 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of SAMRO (Southern African Music Rights Organisation Limited) (Limited by Guarantee) with the objective of providing protection to authors and publishers of literary and dramatic works similar to that which SAMRO provides to composers, lyricists and publishers of musical works.

DALRO’s main activities are:

• The administration of rights of reprographic reproduction in literary works;
• The administration of rights of public performance and broadcast (radio and television) in literary, dramatic and dramatico-musical works;
• Assisting the users of these works by arranging the necessary copyright clearances and issuing licences to them;
• Collecting appropriate royalties for the use of such works and distributing these royalties to the copyright owners — authors, publishers and others — both in Southern Africa and overseas.

DALRO has agreements of reciprocal representation with similar organisations in several other countries with which South Africa has copyright ties, either through the Berne Convention or through bilateral agreements for the protection of intellectual property. DALRO is also a member of the International Confederation of Copyright Societies (Confédération Internationale des Sociétés d’Auteur et Compositeur) (CISAC) with its head office in Paris, France. DALRO is also a full member of the International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organisations (IFRRO) with its head office in Brussels, Belgium. In addition to its links with CISAC- and IFRRO-affiliated organisations, DALRO has over the years built up relations with literary agents, copyright representatives and publishers, notably in England, America and Germany, to enable it to also represent their rights in South Africa.

To complement its main activities and to stimulate and encourage the public performance of dramatic and dramatico-musical works, DALRO also offers theatre texts, operettas, musical plays and similar publications for sale or hire.

Broadcast Rights (Radio and Television)

Radio SAfm secured rights for episodic single voice readings of The Politics of South African Football by Oshebeng Alphie Koonyaditse, Native Nostalgia by Jacob Dlamini and the five personal accounts on living with albinism contained in the volume Looking Inside, published by the Human Rights Media Centre.

Television

There has been no licensing activity in this medium during the period under review.

Public Performance Rights

Dramatic & Poetic Works:

The stage adaptation by Hugo Taljaard of Anoeschka von Meck’s Vaselinetjie, commissioned by the Suid-Oosterfees in 2010, was presented for a further season during the 2011 festival. Also for the 2011 event, Antjie Krog accepted a Suid-Oosterfees commission to translate Athol Fugard’s The Captain’s Tiger into Afrikaans. Die Kaptein se Tier premiered in January 2011 at The Fugard Theatre, Cape Town, to overwhelming critical acclaim, followed by the festival performances.

Two further licences issued for performances of dramatic adaptations of prose works were for Ashraf Johaardien’s treatment of The Quiet Violence of Dreams (K. Sello Duiker), presented by the Siyasanga Cape Town Theatre Company, and for Mpho Molepo’s adaptation of Mating Birds (Lewis Nkosi), presented by the Playhouse Company in Durban. The latter play opened only weeks after the death of Lewis Nkosi, acclaimed writer and essayist, closely associated with the Drum era. Following a severe stroke, Lewis Nkosi passed away on 6 September 2010, aged 73.

DALRO had recently been granted the rights to license the authorised Afrikaans-language versions of several Athol Fugard plays translated by Idil Sheard. These titles included Hello en Koebaai, Playland and Tuiskoms and were welcome additions to the existing collection already published by Maskew Miller Longman (MML) as school books. The MML-published translations included some major works, e.g. Master Harold… en die Boys, Lied van die Vallei and Met Kerslig Na Mekka.

Amateur performance rights for the popular stage adaptation of Calendar Girls (Tim Firth) have so far been unavailable. However, the producers’ ambitions to have the play set a record for the most performed work in the space of one year saw them announce a limited amateur release for a oneyear period, starting 1 September 2012, for several territories, including South Africa. Despite a prohibitive licence fee per performance an amateur group in Cape Town seemed sufficiently determined to bare all on the stage and had no hesitation in paying its licence fees by the deadline of August 2011!

A licence for the making of audiovisual recordings of performances of plays for archival purposes and limited distribution (i.e. to the cast and crew of a production) was being introduced. Several publishers, including Samuel French Inc., New York, and Cressrelles Publishing of the United Kingdom, have committed their repertoires to this licensing scheme and the right to make archival copies now featured as a default provision in all DALRO’s authors’ agreements.

DALRO’s unpublished play-script collection, which had been digitised a few years earlier, was in the process of being ‘linked’ to the Repertoire Information section of the InMagic database. A ‘link’ was entered on the database which, when the work was searched, served as a hyperlink that allowed the user to open and read the script from within the database. It was also possible to capture essential production details, such as cast requirements, onto the database to form the basis of a product catalogue. All English-language titles have been uploaded and linked and work on the Afrikaanslanguage titles was progressing well.

Dramatico-musical Works:

A professional licence for Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella was issued to the Playhouse Company in Durban for performance in November and December 2011. Originally written for television, this was one of the famous duo’s lesser known works, despite the fact that the original broadcast was watched by over a hundred million viewers in 1957, a viewership record for a television special that stood for many years.

The Cape Town Gilbert & Sullivan Society remained the most financially successful amateur presenter of musical theatre.

Reproduction of Visual Works of Art

The licensing of reproduction of visual images remained a lesser part of DALRO’s operation. However, an encouraging development was that the auction house, Strauss & Co, had for the first time cleared reproduction rights for some of the images used to publicise its September auction, including two works by Irma Stern.

Film & Television Rights

Earlier this year DALRO was requested by one of its publishers, to investigate the possibility of DALRO’s handling film and television rights requests on its behalf and for its respective imprints. Since DALRO was acting for the publisher in other areas of licensing, it made sense to also place the film and television rights of the publisher’s various imprints under DALRO’s administration.

After careful consideration, DALRO decided to accept the challenge and commissioned the drafting of two sets of standard agreements – two options agreements and two main agreements – in accordance with international standards. The development of the agreements took several months as DALRO was insistent on their applicability to the local market and a high degree of flexibility.

The first film rights option agreement and corresponding film rights agreement i ssued by DALRO were currently under consideration by Rogue Star Films, the Cape Town-based company responsible for bringing John van de Ruit’s Spud to the big screen. The subject of Rogue Star’s interest was Sifiso Mzobe’s ambitious début crime fiction work, Young Blood, published by NB under its Kwela Books imprint. Noble Pictures of Johannesburg were pursuing the television rights to a collection of children’s stories, published by Tafelberg. Entitled Madiba Magic – Nelson Mandela’s Favourite Stories for Children, the collection comprised thirty-two short stories and the intention was to turn the majority of the stories into short (15 minutes) animated films. Upon enquiry, the Nelson Mandela Foundation rejected the use of Madiba Magic as a series title, but confirmed that it was prepared to allow Nelson Mandela’s Favourite African Folktales (the title of the American edition of the collection).

M-Net has committed to Derick van der Walt’s Lien se Lankstaanskoene for the Afrikaans movie market. M-Net has also reserved movie rights for two other books, pending the finalisation of budgets - Karin Brynard’s Plaasmoord, published by Human & Rousseau, and Cynthia Jele’s Happiness is a Four Letter Word, published by Kwela Books. Reprographic

Reproduction Rights Current Strategy:

DALRO continues to engage Herman Blignaut of Spoor & Fisher (S&F) to oversee its blanket licensing operation and to customise licences in accordance with institutions’ requirements. Baselbased attorney, Carlo Scollo Lavizzari, continues to render essential services to DALRO in its negotiations with local and foreign right holders on mandates and bilateral agreements.

Transactional Licensing in Public Higher Education Institutions: Some institutions’ licensing figures (number of pages) remai ned flat compared to 2009, whereas others showed marked variance, either upwards, or downward.

Enforcement

Following numerous requests from publishers over the last few years for DALRO to perform an enforcement function, e.g. follow up on alleged copyright infringement at copy-shops, DALRO undertook to facilitate the relationship between the South African Federation Against Copyright Theft (SAFACT) and the members of the Publishers’ Association of South Africa (PASA).

To get the relationship established, DALRO decided to sponsor PASA’s membership of SAFACT for a period of six months, running from 1 August 2011 to 31 January 2012. DALRO further undertook to sponsor PASA’s continued membership for the period 1 February 2012 to 31 December 2012, should PASA so request.

Copyright Policy and Legislation

Following is an update on policy issues and legislative developments in South Africa and elsewhere in the world:

South Africa

DALRO’s Memorandum of Incorporation (MoI) under the Companies Act of 2008: DALRO was obliged to amend its constitutive documents (Memorandum and Articles of Association) to ensure that they were in line with the new Companies Act of 2008. To ensure compliance, a replacement Memorandum of Incorporation (MoI) needed to be drafted and approved by the Board and the shareholder, SAMRO.

A grace period of two years from the Act’s implementation (1 May 2011) had been granted by Government for compliance and timelines for the amendment and adoption of the MoI have been set by DALRO’s Executive Management in consultation with the shareholder.

Copyright Review Commission (CRC):

Following written submissions by the end of May 2011, DALRO, SAMRO and the Performers’ Organisation of South Africa (POSA) were summoned to appear before the CRC on 11 July 2011. In advance of its oral submission on 11 July, DALRO was provided with a questionnaire for completion and submission.

The questionnaire required disclosure of intimate details on, inter alia, the following:

• Tariffs and tariff development
• Credit control
• Revenue generated over t he last three years
• Directors’ details and qualifications
• Publisher and licensee agreements
• Cash reserves
• Distribution cycles

Although not really a failure on DALRO’s part, the only major criticism leveled at DALRO’s reprographic reproduction licensing operation was its inability to ensure that authors received their royalties from publishers. On conclusion of the interrogation, one of the Commissioners commended DALRO for its transparency and its willingness to assist the CRC in its investigations.

Intellectual Property Laws Amendment Bill (IPLAB):

A substantially redrafted version of the IPLAB was due to be debated in Parliament by the Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry on 20 September 2011.

Following near unanimous criticism of the IPLAB at public hearings before the Committee in October 2010, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) presented a defence to the Bill in November 2010, in which it conceded that the Bill could be improved. The DTI released its redraft to the Portfolio Committee in June 2011.

Following the release of the DTI’s draft, the Portfolio Committee resolved that it would take over the redrafting of the Bill and it appointed a task team comprised of the following persons: • Ms Susan van der Merwe – ANC and Task Team Leader • Adv Charmaine van der Merwe – Parliamentary Legal Adviser • Adv Johan Strydom – Legal Adviser to the DTI • Adv Mongameli Kweta – State Law Adviser’s Office • Mr Tim Harris – DA • Adv Anton Alberts – FF+ • Mr Mario Oriani-Ambrosini – IFP

The Parliamentary Legal Adviser issued a substantial rewrite of the Bill in July 2011. Since then, the drafting team has been engaging with the following three appointed experts for advice on refining the Bill: • Dr Johanna von Braun of UCT’s Intellectual Propert Law and Policy Unit and associate at Natural Justice; • Prof Pitika Ntuli, UKZN Academic specialising in Indigenous Knowledge Sustems (IKS) and sculptor, poet and writer; • Ms Thsepo Shabangu, President of the South African Institute of Intellectual Property Law and partner at the firm of Spoor & Fisher.

The consultations with the panel of experts led to further versions of the redraft which improved the Bill in some areas. It introduced the concept of a “community protocol”, which was, for the first time, an attempt to establish a process for identifying indigenous communities which would benefit from this legislation and provided for a decision-making process and a method of representation for those communities. Although an improvement, the introduction of this provision did not go far enough to dispel the prospect of uncertainty surrounding copyright ownership in literary and artistic works which were in the “traditional” genre and made by persons who could be considered as coming from indigenous communities.

However, the latest version regressed on some of the improvements made to the def inition of “indigenous community” in an earlier draft. This version also extended the definition of “collecting societies” to such societies created by agreement. This would enable the Minister to extend his regulatory powers under section 39(cA) of the Copyright Act (dealing with needletime) to such voluntary societies, even where the subject matter was not traditional intellectual property.

The few cases in which substantial concessions had been made, were where it was absolutely clear to all that the drafters of the original Bill were indisputably wrong (such as in non-compliance with the agreement reached at the National Economic Development and Labour Council (NEDLAC) and the incorrect treatment of performers’ rights). The overriding impression from the Committee meetings that had been hel d to date was that the proponents of the Bill were in the majority and that they were going to push the Bill through without regard to all submissions and advice pointing to the deficiencies of the Bill and proposing more effective options.

In the meantime, intergovernmental negotiations were underway at the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) for a new treaty to protect traditional knowledge. The negotiations at WIPO’s Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore had the objective of reaching agreement on the text of an international legal instrument. The Committee met in July 2010 and again in May 2011 and was able to advance its work significantly. A report-back to the General Assembly was due in September 2011.

The texts currently being circulated bore no resemblance to the South African Bill and the argument had been made that it would be better for South Africa to await the outcome of these negotiations before passing any legislation.

Consumer Protection ACT (CPA):

The SAMRO Group had engaged the services of Edward Nathan Sonnenbergs to conduct a risk analysis and provide a compliance opinion. In the meantime, DALRO had assessed all its agreements for compliance. Inconsistencies and ambiguities have been identified and the relevant documents amended and, where possible, simplified.

Regional Developments

Bilateral Agreements:

In October 2010, DALRO entered into a Type B+ bilateral agreement with KOPIKEN, the Kenyan RRO.

International Developments

Bilateral Agreements:

DALRO signed bilateral agreements to enable the licensing of digital uses as well as business licensing with the Australian, Canadian and American Reprographic Rights Organisations (RROs). Following the signing of a bilateral agreement with the UK’s Newspaper Licensing Agency for analogue uses, the NLA have since aquired certain digital rights for education from UK newspapers and was keen to extend these rights to DALRO by way of an addendum. It was a significant step forward that would hopefully eventually lead to a digital mandate for business licensing of UK newspaper content.

WIPO Visually Impaired Persons Platform – Minimum Exceptions:

In June 2011, the 22nd session of WIPO’s Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR 22) debated limitations and exceptions to copyright for the benefit of visually impaired persons and persons with other reading disabilities. Early in the meeting, a number of countries, including the Brazil and certain Latin American states, the European Union and its member states, and the US, put forward a so-called “non-paper”, setting out the basis of consensus between them on this point.

The non-paper set out the limitations and exceptions which could be legislated to allow the reproduction of copyright works into “accessible format copies” without authorisation or the mediated involvement of a government agen cy or non-profit organisation. A number of members promoted a binding treaty on the subject, while the US and Europe preferred a joint recommendation. The nonpaper formed the basis of a Chair’s text, which will be placed on the agenda for text-based discussions at SCCR 23 in November 2011.

Trusted Intermediary Global Accessible Resources (TIGAR) Project:

The TIGAR project, which grew out of the WIPO Stakeholder Platform and the EU Memorandum of Understanding, sought to facilitate the international sharing of files in electronic formats for use by visually impaired persons.

DALRO was initially contacted by Mr Andrew Tu, who managed TIGAR from a WIPO perspective, about its participation in the three-year pilot project. Having secured DALRO’s buy-in, the baton was handed to Mr Jim Russell of RPM Associates in the United Kingdom, whose role it was to liaise with right holders and right holder representatives, such as DALRO, in those countries which had committed to the project — i.e. Australia, Canada, Columbia, France, India, Kenya, the Netherlands, Norway/Sweden, South Africa, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Due to circumstances beyond DALRO’s control, the momentum of the local chapter of the TIGAR project suffered a setback earlier in the year. Fortunately the project found itself back on track in September 2011 when the Chair of the Publishers‘ Association of South Africa‘s (PASA’s) Legal Affairs Committee started contacting the publishers who had been selected to participate in the first phase of the TIGAR project by virtue of the popularity of their works with the South African Library for the Blind (SALB). This phase, known as the TIGAR Fast Track project, was a pilot project of TIGAR, aimed at setting the ball rolling while the legal complexities of the main project were being resolved.

The Fast Track project envisaged DALRO’s acting as an agent for the publishers and signing the WIPO Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on their behalf. In terms of this MoU, the SALB would, as a Trusted Intermediary (TI), be able to send and receive accessible versions of books to and from other TIs in foreign territories.

DALRO would undertake the licensing of these cross-border transfers and it was hoped that it would be possible to sign the MoU by the end of September 2011.

The Canadian Copyright Bill C-32:

Bill C-32 proposed to sign into law numerous measures that were hostile to the collective licensing of literary works and to introduce exceptions which were far too broad and unfavourable to copyright holders.

Fortunately the Bill had to be withdrawn as a result of the dissolution of Canadian parliament but, following the elections, the Conservatives, who had originally proposed C-32, were not only returned to power, but had increased their majority. Despite the controversy surrounding Bill C-32, it was therefore likely that it would be re-introduced.

DALRO, IFRRO and various trade associations, mostly in Europe, continued to assist their Canadian counterparts by advocating against the Bill’s contentious provisions believed to be prejudicial to the interests of right holders. The only hope was that the EU-Canadian Free Trade Negotiations which were in progress, and expected to continue until February or March 2012, might have a persuasive influence on the new Canadian legislator.

Developments in the United Kingdom:

The Independent Review of IP and Growth undertaken under the chairmanship of Prof Ian Hargreaves was released in May 2011 and in August 2011 the British Government accepted all ten recommendations contained in the Hargreaves Report. Accepting the Review’s overall conclusion that IP was important to growth and that IP laws were, in some cases, obstructing growth, the Cabinet undertook to come up with a White Paper by Spring 2012 setting out its legislative plan.

Some of the Review‘s salient points included:

• The importance of IP policy being driven by evidence
• The creation of a digital copyright exchange as a marketplace for owners and purchasers of rights
• Support for the European Commission’s initiative in a cross-border licensing framework within the European Union
• A proposal for commercial and cultural uses of orphan works, subject to safeguards for rightsholders
• Minimum standards for voluntary codes for collecting societies, with the possibility of a statutory code for non-compliant societies

Ireland followed the UK’s example by initiating its own review, to be conducted by three industry experts. The review was set to identify areas of legislation that might be considered to create barriers to innovation in the digital environment and would include a consultation process.

The Google Book Settlement (GBS):

In March 2011, the revised settlement agreement in the US Google books litigation was rejected by the court, presumably influenced by the sizeable number of objections received before and after the February 2010 “fairness hearing,” including the brief of the US Department of Justice.

The reasoning given by the court ranged from somewhat technical reasons, including the adequacy of class representation and the scope of the actions contemplated under the agreement compared to the legal complaints originally made by the plaintiffs, to the more substantive issues of copyright law policies, competition or antitrust concerns, and the extra-territorial effect of the agreement. The technical issues had to do with the structure of the Authors’ Guild’s use of class action procedures, which were normally intended to deal with substantive harms to a large group or class of individuals or entities, to settle the complex and perhaps uncertain legal issues raised in the Google case.

Moreover, the court noted that the forward-looking business arrangements proposed in the agreement, such as the establishment of the Book Rights Registry and mechanisms to establish a new marketplace for scanned books, did not directly relate to the alleged wrongdoing on Google’s part of scanning copyright works without authorisation. Although the court noted the positive benefits of creating such a forward-looking marketplace, it asserted that the creation of such a marketplace required an “opt in” approach on the part of right holders, and the approach contemplated by the agreement of inclusion of all relevant scanned works unless objected to, was an inappropriate extension beyond the scope of the law suit.

Of great interest to the publishing community was this discussion of opt-in versus opt-out in the copyright law context. The court concluded that it could not condone the “release [to Google, of] copyright interests of individual rights owners who have not voluntarily consented to transf er”, or a change in the traditional copyright law doctrine of the exclusivity of rights, the ability on the part of the right holder to permit or exclude use and access, and to set the terms for such use and access.

At the status conference held in July 2011, the court threatened to issue a schedule on the parties to proceed with the litigation, and counsel asked for more time to enable the parties to work on an “optin” settlement. At the next status conference, held on 15 September 2011, Judge Denny Chin, US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, adopted a proposed pre -trial schedule that, if followed, would have the case ready for trial by 31 July 2012. Discovery would aim to be completed by 30 March 2012, motions for summary judgment would be due by 31 May 2012, opposition briefs due by 9 July 2012, and replies by 31 July 2012.

Presentations, Conferences Seminars and Workshops

IFRRO Annual General Meeting, Boston, 25 – 29 October 2010: Gérard Robinson and Nothando Migogo attended the IFRRO AGM in Boston which was a superbly organised event with informative presentations by specialists in a variety of fields. On the Friday following the AGM, Gérard Robinson and Nothando Migogo participated in a meeting of Commonwealth countries to strategise a common way forward in the light of the anti-copyright sentiment and legislative threats experienced in several voluntary jurisdictions. The session was attended by delegates from Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and, of course, South Africa.

PASA’s Sector Council Meetings and Annual General Meeting, 15 – 17 August 2011: Gérard Robinson and Nothando Migogo all the Sector Council meetings in the run-up to PASA’s AGM, including the Legal Affairs Committee (LAC), held in Cape Town. Nothando Migogo briefed the members of PASA on the recent CRC hearings and DALRO’s oral presentation in July 2011. She also provided feedback on the latest developments pertaining to the Trusted Intermediary Global Accessible Resources (TIGAR) project.

Intellectual Property Indaba, 4 August 2011: Gérard Robinson attended the IP Indaba in Pretoria, organised by the Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI’s) Statutory Advisory Committee on Intellectual Property (SACIP). The DTI was in the process of drafting a comprehensive IP Policy for South Africa and envisaged a consultative process prior to the review and amendment of all the IP laws. The Indaba marked the start of this process.

International Intellectual Property Conference / Establishment of the Intellectual Property Chair at Stellenbosch University, 1 & 2 September 2011: Nothando Migogo and Gérard Robinson attended the International Intellectual Property Conference in Stellenbosch. The conference was held to mark the establishment of the Anton Mostert Chair of Intellectual Property at the Stellenbosch University (SU).

Prof Owen Dean, who had chaired the DALRO Board meetings on several occasions, was appointed as the first Chair of Intellectual Property at SU, his alma mater. He also acted as the host for the inaugural conference which featured a number of prominent international speakers. Although the focus was predominantly on trademarks and designs, it proved to be an exceptionally good networking opportunity and many useful contacts were made.

Other Developments

DALRO becomes the first recipient of North-West University’s Vice-Chancellor’s Honorary Award:

Together with the intellectual property law firm DM Kisch, DALRO became the first external recipient of the North-West University’s Vice-Chancellor’s Honorary Award, usually reserved to acknowledge excellence within the university’s ranks. DALRO was honoured for the role it had played in assisting North-West University (NWU) to manage its intellectual property portfolio over the years.

The Arts and Culture Trust (ACT): Gérard Robinson continued to serve as a Nominated Trustee of ACT.

ACT/DALRO and ACT/Nedbank Performing Arts Scholarships:

Following the second successful ACT Scholarship competition in 2010, where the very charismatic Hope Maimane was awarded ACT | DALRO scholarship, sharing the podium with the winner of the ACT | Nedbank scholarship, Zola Myeza, the 2011 finals were eagerly awaited.

The finals of the ACT/DALRO and ACT/Nedbank Performing Arts Scholarship will be held at the Globe Theatre, Gold Reef City, on 27 September 2011.

ACT Lifetime Achievement Awards:

ACT’s Lifetime Achievement Award for Theatre, sponsored by DALRO, would be presented at a ceremony on Friday, 5 November 2011.

DALRO Literary Forum at the Cape Town Book Fair (CTBF):

Due to a lack of support from trade publishers in 2010, it was decided that the CTBF would not be held in 2011. It was due to be held again in 2012, in conjunction with the 29th Congress of the International Publishers’ Association. Should the CTBF go ahead, DALRO would once again consider sponsoring the DALRO Literary Forum as it had done in previous years.

Congress of the International Publishers’ Association, Cape Town:

When the sponsorship opportunities were released, DALRO immediately made a bid to sponsor the Gala Dinner at the 29th International Publishers Association (IPA) Congress hosted by PASA from 12 to 14 June 2012. Within a few days DALRO received the welcome news that its bid had been accepted.

Although the sponsorship was not an insignificant amount, the fact that the Congress would not only be attended by members of the international publishing community, but also by many of DALRO’s international peers and copyright luminaries, made it an eminently worthwhile investment.

IFRRO Responsibilities:

Gérard Robinson and Nothando Migogo continued to serve on IFRRO’s Development Committee for Africa, while Nothando Migogo represented DALRO on the Legal Affairs Committee.

Appointment of new Business Development Manager:

Following a restructuring of the Reprographic Rights Licensing Division, and as part of DALRO’s strategic objective to create new revenue streams, Ms Sarah-Jane Bosch was appointed in a newly-established position of Business Development Manager. Ms Bosch holds a Masters degree in English from Wits and was currently completing her Post-graduate Diploma in Management through Wits Business School.

Distribution of Theatre Texts

DALRO continues to stock and sell copies of foreign plays, mainly one-acts, which have proved popular in the South African amateur market. This is a value-added service to complement the administration of performance rights in the plays.

General Financial Review

There had been an increase of 9,9% over the previous year in licence and royalty fees invoiced. Reprographic licence fees invoiced increased from R26,8 million to R29,1 million, largely owing to an increase of 12,8% in blanket licence fees, from R18,0 million to R20,3 million. Transactional reprographic licence fees invoiced decreased by 1,0%.

Royalties from public performances increased by 33,0%. Revenue from public performances remained a fluctuating source of income which depended on the staging of works in the DALROadministered repertoire.

Investment income once again declined from R1,5 million to R0,8 million in the current year, a drop of some 46,3%. This was due to the low interest rate environment where interest rate returns of more than 5% per year were difficult to obtain. Steps have been put in place to ensure that the maximum possible interest rate was received from the banks, but with an expectation of further interest rate cuts to stimulate growth in the economy, low investment income should be expected for the foreseeable future.

Operating expenses increased marginally by 2.4%. This increase reflected a focus on cost control and was largely driven by inflation and salary increases. The administration fee charged by SAMRO remained at 7%.

Change in Basis of Preparation of the Annual Financial Statements

The basis of preparation of the Annual Financial Statements for DALRO for the year ended 30 June 2011 has changed from that of the year ended 30 June 2010. In the prior year, Licence and Royalty fees invoiced and distributions paid were disclosed in the Statement of Comprehensive Income. In the current year these items were not disclosed in the Statement of Comprehensive Income and the prior year’s figures have been adjusted to reflect a comparative position.

The new auditors, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Inc., was of the opinion that, since DALRO acted as an agent for right holders and charged an administration fee to right holders, Licence Fees and the distributions paid during the year should not be disclosed as income and expenses in the Statement of Comprehensive Income. For purposes of DALRO’s operations, administration fees and other nonroyalty revenue were, in fact, the only sources of income that should be disclosed.

The licence and royalty fees invoiced for the year as well as the distributions paid were disclosed in note 10 of the Notes to the Annual Financial Statements.

Events after the Accounting Date

No material factor or circumstance occurred between the accounting date and the date of this Report.

Share Capital

No shares or debentures have been issued between the accounting date and the date of t his Report.

Fixed Assets

DALRO did not have any fixed assets, since all its operating equipment and infrastructure was provided by SAMRO.

Dividends

No dividends have been declared and the Directors did not recommend the payment of a dividend.

Holding Company

DALRO (Dramatic, Artistic and Literary Rights Organisation (Proprietary) Limited) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of SAMRO (Southern African Music Rights Organisation Limited (Limited by Guarantee).

Management

DALRO’s management and administration are conducted independently of SAMRO’s, except in those areas where SAMRO renders services to DALRO on agreed terms.

Directors

Prof. Catherine Odora Hoppers was elected to replace Prof Zakes Mda on the DALRO Board on 14 June 2010. Ms Lieze Kotzé was elected on 12 October 2010 to take the seat vacated by Mr Lindelwe Mabandla.

COMPANY SECRETARY

There was no change in this position during the year under review.

DIRECTORS

Executive Adv J.J. Baloyi (resigned 1 September 2011))

Mr B.G. Robinson (Managing Director)

Non-Executive

Ms F. Dada

Prof E. Gunner

Ms J.L. Honeyman (resigned 17 March 2011)

Ms E. Kotzé

Ms O.R. Krut

Prof N. Maake

Prof P.J. Mohr

Prof Catherine Odora Hoppers

Mr C.F. B. van Rooyen (resigned 29 March 2011)

Ms E. Wessels

SECRETARY

Mr B.G. Robinson

3rd Floor, SAMRO Place

20 De Korte Street

Braamfontein

2001 Johannesburg

P.O. Box 31627 

2017

Braamfontein