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Tuesday, October 11, 2011

I must be an author

I have been ignoring messages from the Copyright Agency Limited because at first I thought they were hoax emails and more recently because I just couldn't be bothered joining the agency to redeem some funds they say are owing to me.

The Copyright Agency Limited or (CAL) website states "CAL is a non-profit rights management organisation. We collect, and distribute to rightsholders, copyright fees and royalties for the use of text and images, including uses of digital content. CAL is a company limited by guarantee whose members are rightsholders, including writers, artists and publishers."


I am having an administria housekeeping day today so thought I would check CAL out and find out which of my words have been shared and how much CAL wish to pay me for their use. I can't remember writing anything that may attract payments under the CAL scheme.


An email received from CAL in May contains this info: 

"The amount we are holding for you is $411.49.

In order for you to claim the money it is a requirement of the Attorney-General’s Department that you become a member of CAL.Membership is free."

I have just completed the 7 page online registration form to join CAL and read through some old emails from the agency. It appears that I am owed some funds for an old website that I haven't updated for a year. The $411.49 will help defray some of the cost of my genealogy habit.



2 comments:

  1. Are you really certain this is legitimate? As far as I am aware there is no organisation with a pot of money to give to you when people have used your words. I hope you haven't given them bank account details

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yep, positive it's legit. As a former librarian I'm aware of CAL and its work for authors and publishers.

    ReplyDelete

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