OECS member states incorporate ECCLA

The Eastern Caribbean Copyright Licensing Association (ECCLA) has been incorporated in the OECS Member States.{{more}}

ECCLA was established to ensure that creators and publishers of image and text-based works are protected and remunerated for the copying of their copyrighted works. The first meeting of ECCLA was held in Barbados on Tuesday, March 29, 2011.

The meeting adopted the proposed by-laws of the Association and developed a three-year business plan, which includes a membership drive. The meeting also agreed to the execution of both a management and a bilateral agreement with the Jamaica Copyright Licensing Agency (JAMCOPY), to assist in the effective administration of the work of the new Association.

The establishment of ECCLA grew out of a series of consultations, sponsored by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) and the International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organisations (IFRRO), on the establishment of a single Reproduction Rights Organization (RRO) that would service the small Member States of the OECS, and give rise to economies of scale.

The goals of the Association are consistent with collective management of reprography, and ECCLA will, as a representative of creators and publishers from the OECS Member States, seek to create a compliance culture and encourage and protect the creativity of its members. Writers, photographers, poets, composers, illustrators, artists and other visual creators whose work is published in printed form and publishers of books, magazines, newspapers and other periodicals are invited to join ECCLA.

ECCLA’s day to day management will be effected at its principal office in St. Lucia, by a Board of Directors comprising Dr. Simon Jones-Hendrickson of St. Kitts and Nevis as President, McCarthy Marie of Dominica as Vice President and Michael Fontenelle of Saint Lucia as Treasurer.

Other directors include Wayne Williams of Grenada and Desiree Richards of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Lydia Elliott of St. Lucia was appointed to serve as Secretary at the first meeting of the Association.

ECCLA is one of five organizations established in the English-speaking Caribbean to protect the interests of copyright holders of image and text-based works; the others being JAMCOPY in Jamaica, the Trinidad and Tobago Reprographic Rights Organisation (TTRRO), the Barbados Copyright Agency Inc. (BCOPY) and the Belize Copyright Licensing Agency (BECLA).