Artists are becoming more aware of the importance of intellectual property rights, as professionalism in the sector increases. 

This is the focus of the seventh session of Arts Council Malta’s ACM Hangouts, hosted by Elaine Falzon.

Lawyer Luke Dalli and Steve Vassallo from Malta PRS - a society that collects revenue on behalf of musicians and artists – join other guest speakers from the industry to explain how property rights work, offering valuable information about how artists can protect their rights, and what steps they need to take upon creating new work in order to secure these rights.

Dalli explained property rights and international agreements concerning them. He explained that there are three main areas of law that extend protection to artists and emphasised the importance of ensuring written claims to intellectual property: a friendly handshake is not enough. 

Matthew Pisani, the director of industrial property registrations at the commerce department, explained the importance of having a legally registered trademark and how registering one can be done online within minutes. 

Steve Vassallo, representing PRS Malta, spoke about the importance of original music creators to protect their copyright, and how PRS (which acts as a royalties collector on behalf of artists) can help smoothen the process by collecting royalties and redistributing them to members, whether the music is played in Malta or abroad. 

Burak Ozgen, representing GESAC, shared insights about how the organisation safeguards the interests of artists across borders, while exploring the potential of generating revenue streams. The organisation, which is based in Brussels, works hand in hand with collector organisations like PRS.

This ACM Hangout came to an end with a contribution by Maria Galea, founder of Artz ID. Galea spoke about how visual artists are protecting their rights and the challenges they face. 

ACM Hangouts is produced by Arts Council Malta and all sessions are streamed on the Arts Council Facebook page.