Authors of visual works

Membership means that certain rights are managed by ProLitteris and that you receive royalties for the use of your works.

Specifically, membership offers you the following:

• You receive payments in the main distribution in accordance with the distribution rules.
• You can benefit from additional exploitations when your texts are broadcast on radio and television or when your visual works are reproduced in the art market.
• You can become a cooperative member, take part in the general meeting and – as an author – receive support from the welfare foundation.

The rights administration agreement is free of charge and forms the basis for ProLitteris to collect and pay out royalties for you. You define which rights are included yourself in the ProLitteris portal. You can adjust your choice annually.

Your works are protected independently of membership with ProLitteris. Copyright protection arises automatically when they are created.

Become a member as early as possible so that you do not miss out on any royalties and can later receive social benefits if necessary.

You can become a member of ProLitteris if you are an author, a publishing house or an heir and have created published works that are used by third parties.

A rights administration agreement is useful for you if you are regularly active in creative or journalistic work, for example:

• Contributions in books, newspapers or magazines
• Content for radio or television
• Works of visual art or photography

As a member, you receive royalties from uses that are compensated by law as well as from further exploitations that you can hardly organize yourself.

Membership is free of charge. The conditions of the rights administration agreement and the statutes apply.

ProLitteris manages published works in the fields of text and image, as defined in the exploitation conditions.

These include:

• Texts: journalism, academic works, fiction, non-fiction, art books, spoken word, comedy, books and newspapers/magazines of all kinds
• Images: artworks, photographs, illustrations, sculptures, visual works of all kinds
• Also contributions in copies of works and parts of works, provided they are independently protected

The decisive factor is whether participation in a distribution is possible. The distributions of statutory royalties concern printed works (Print distribution for books and newspapers/magazines), the internet (Online distribution, especially for journalism and academic online services), radio and television (Broadcast distribution) and exhibited works (Expo distribution from 2027).

For music, film and stage, other collective management organizations are usually responsible.

When you register and for distributions, you confirm that your works are protected by copyright and that you hold the corresponding rights. ProLitteris checks this if necessary.

You can apply for a rights administration agreement if you meet certain requirements relating to yourself, your works, and your rights.

The conditions for all rightsholders are:

• Residence or nationality in Switzerland or Liechtenstein; as a publishing house you need a registered office or a branch
• Rights to texts or images that are published and accessible in Switzerland or Liechtenstein
• Proof of works, as required by ProLitteris (ISBN, ISSN, website, exhibition, etc.)

Additional conditions for publishing houses:

• UID number
• Activities and resources in Switzerland or Liechtenstein, e.g. staff, production, distribution, and marketing

The management of ProLitteris reviews your application on the basis of the statutes and the rights administration conditions and decides on the conclusion of the rights administration agreement.

No, you cannot conclude an exploitation agreement retroactively. The agreement is valid from the time it is concluded and applies for the future.

However, it covers all rights and works that belong to you – both existing and future ones. Your previous works are therefore included in the exploitation, even if the agreement is only concluded at a later date.

It is advisable to conclude the exploitation agreement as early as possible, as soon as you are professionally active. In this way, you ensure that your claims are recorded from the outset.

If you additionally become a member of the cooperative, this may also be relevant later for possible social benefits.

A rights administration agreement is not necessary for your works to be protected. Protection arises automatically as soon as you create a work. A rights administration agreement with ProLitteris serves to receive royalties for the use of your works.

Authors do not have to register their works or conclude an agreement. This distinguishes copyright from patents, trademarks, and designs.

ProLitteris recommends accompanying the publication of works with notices referring to authorship and to the rights. In addition, ProLitteris offers a digital deposit that can facilitate proof. However, this is not a requirement, neither towards ProLitteris nor towards third parties who might one day dispute the copyright.

Membership has no disadvantages. ProLitteris manages statutory rights that are independent of the contracts between different rightsholders.

Only in a small part of the Audio sector do contracts between authors and publishing houses play a role. For readings and film adaptations of literature in the programs of broadcasting companies, it depends on the individual publishing contract whether the author or the publishing house is responsible.

You can adjust all rights annually in the ProLitteris portal.

A rights administration contract with ProLitteris therefore has no legal or practical disadvantages for you. You retain control over your rights.

In the main distribution, you receive royalties independently of your contracts with other persons. Authors, publishing houses and heirs of authors are entitled.

The reason is mandatory collective management. Royalties are calculated independently and you are entitled to them by law.

It is different in the case of voluntary collective management. At ProLitteris, this concerns the areas Audio and Art. Here, ProLitteris can only manage the rights that actually lie with you. If rights have already been transferred to a publishing house, a museum or another person before they were transferred to ProLitteris in the rights administration agreement, ProLitteris cannot license uses.

This is how you avoid conflicts:

• Exclusion of the areas Audio and/or Art in the rights administration agreement
• Adjustment of the transfer of rights
• Area Art: define individual exclusions for individual works or uses

The adjustment of rights in the ProLitteris portal is possible until 30. September and becomes effective on 1. January of the following year.

In the event of death, the copyrights pass to the persons entitled to inherit. Who receives the rights is determined by inheritance law.

If several persons inherit, they form a community of heirs. This appoints a joint representative who takes over contact with ProLitteris. The basis for this is a certificate of inheritance.

During their lifetime, the exploitation agreement always remains tied to the author. Other persons or institutions cannot conclude the agreement, even if they have received rights. Only after death can heirs take over the exploitation agreement or conclude a new one and continue to administer the rights.

A foundation cannot become a member during the author’s lifetime. However, authors can authorize a person to manage their account and take over the administration in dealings with ProLitteris.

Membership in several collective management organizations only makes sense if you are active in different fields, e.g. as a visual artist and at the same time as a musician. For texts and images, membership in ProLitteris is sufficient.

Due to legal and administrative issues, ProLitteris avoids simultaneous membership in another collective management organization with the same field of activity. In the past, this led to additional effort and to a lack of clarity regarding royalties.

ProLitteris cooperates with foreign organizations so that you receive royalties from abroad even without dual membership. In some cases, it is possible for rightsholders of another collective management organization to participate directly in the distributions of ProLitteris. For all other cases and rightsholders, ProLitteris pays the other collective management organization an annual quota defined by the supervisory board.