Surveyors in the West receive first payment in August
July 31, 2019
Copyright Agency has been recruiting surveyors from Western Australia since the beginning of the year when we received confirmation that the WA State Government would provide a retrospective payment of almost $1m for sales of survey plans between 2005 and 2017.
That payment will be made to Western Australian surveyors in mid-August.
In that time, membership has grown from less than 10 to 56 surveying firms, representing more than 80 individuals.
Only members of the Copyright Agency can receive royalty payments for the sale of their survey plans.
The 2008 High Court of Australia decision found that surveyors own the copyright in their survey plans. The Copyright Agency has since been in negotiations with each state and territory government to ensure surveyors nationwide all receive appropriate remuneration for their work. The Western Australian Deed is the fifth of its kind, after New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Victoria.
The Copyright Agency has distributed over $5.7m in royalties to more than 600 surveyor members since the first agreement with the NSW Government was signed in 2013.
Surveyors’ intellectual property is valuable – a percentage of the sale price is payable for the copying and communication of each survey plans – so it is important for surveying companies to keep track of their plans, especially during mergers.
Copyright Agency member, Wayne Diver-Tuck says his employer JBW Surveyors in Sydney, “…has been a member of Copyright Agency for many years as we believe strongly in getting some form of compensation for copies of our plans which are sold.”
All surveying businesses and sole practitioners in Western Australia should consider joining the Copyright Agency to receive royalty payments. If you are not a member, we cannot pay you. Membership is free, does not involve any assignment of your rights, and can be easily achieved by joining online here.
If you have any questions about membership, you can contact our Member Services team at memberservices@copyright.com.au.