Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society - History

History

ALCS was founded in 1977 after a long campaign in the United Kingdom by the Writers' Action Group (WAG) for writers to receive remuneration for the lending of their works by libraries. Then known as the Authors' Lending and Copyright Society, it was incorporated on 23 March 1977 to handle:

  • payments from Verwertungsgesellschaft Wort (VG Wort – the Word Exploitation Corporation) for the German public lending right (PLR);
  • the British PLR;
  • Belgian cable television; and
  • reprography (photocopying) royalties.

However, the organization that was eventually responsible for distributing the fees obtained from the lending of books in libraries was the Public Lending Right.

In 1982, The Copyright Licensing Agency was founded by ALCS and the Publishers Licensing Society (PLS). ALCS receives the majority of its income (65–70%) from the CLA's photocopying licensing schemes.

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