In Norway, copyright is regulated in Act on Copyright in Intellectual Property, etc. (Intellectual Property Act) which was adopted on June 15, 2018. The law states that the person who creates an intellectual work has copyright to the work. This person is what we call the author. An intellectual work can be any type of literary or artistic work that is an expression of original and individual creative intellectual effort. The type of intellectual work TONO manages is musical works, with and without lyrics.

Copyright comes into effect as soon as an intellectual work is created. There are no national or international requirements for registering or labeling intellectual works.

Copyright gives the author the exclusive right to dispose of the intellectual work by producing permanent or temporary copies of the intellectual work, and to make the work available to the public. This is established in Section 3 of the Copyright Act, and is the central basis for TONO's activities.

By entering into a management agreement with TONO, copyright holders entrust TONO with giving their consent to the production of copies and making available of musical works to which they have the copyright. TONO designates authors with a management contract as members. On behalf of its own members and companies with which TONO has reciprocal agreements, TONO charges for public use of music in the Norwegian territory, and settles remuneration to the authors based on data on usage. TONO is a non-profit cooperative owned and managed by authors and music publishers.

Intellectual property rights

Copyright has two main aspects: the economic and the moral. TONO's administration only covers the economic aspect, which is based on Section 3 of the Copyright Act, the author's exclusive right to make available and reproduce his work.

The moral rights are described in § 5. This mainly concerns protection against infringing use of the work, and the right to be named when the work is used. This is outside the management of TONO.

International protection

Copyright protection is not limited to Norway. In addition to the Norwegian Copyright Act, musical works are protected through a number of international laws, agreements and conventions:

• • Intellectual Property Rights Act, 2018

• • Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, 1886

• • UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948, Article 27

• • A number of EU directives, most recently represented by the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market, 2019

Act on fees to the Norwegian Composers' Fund

TONO operates under a license from the Ministry of Culture. After Act on fees to the Norwegian Composers' Fund of 1965, a company that operates as an intermediary for authors of musical works is obliged to pay a fee to the Norwegian Composers' Fund. The fee amounts to 2 percent of TONO's gross income annually. The fund can be applied for by all composers and songwriters. Read more about the Norwegian Composers' Fund here..

TONO-register the work

Although all intellectual property has automatic and inherent protection through both national and international law, it is important that TONO members, in line with the management agreement, register all their works with TONO at mitt.tono.no. This is necessary, among other things, so that TONO can collect remuneration on behalf of the members and pay settlements. Read more here..