Photographers and photo agencies
If a photo agency applies to Pictoright on behalf of a photographer, Pictoright basically assumes that the photo agency is allowed to do so on behalf of the photographer and has made agreements about this. The photo agency then claims and receives the collective rights fees on behalf of the photographer. The photo agency is required to pass on as much of the collective rights fees as possible to the photographer.
If a photographer - for whatever reason - considers that a photo agency is not allowed to claim on her/his/their behalf, the photographer may notify Pictoright. Pictoright will then enable the photographer to self-admit the contributions and thus receive Pictoright's collective rights fees directly.
The notification by the photographer is leading in this as far as Pictoright is concerned. In such cases Pictoright will assume the photographer's notification is truthful, which also means that the photographer is responsible for this.
In such a situation, Pictoright will inform the photo agency that, according to the photographer, it may not submit a statement and claim collective rights payments on behalf of this photographer. This is to avoid duplicate claims and payments.
If Pictoright detects that a photo agency and photographer are both claiming the same publishing titles/programme titles/home copying fees, Pictoright will contact the individual photographer first to discuss the matter. Also, in case of doubt as to whether the statements are identical, Pictoright will contact the photographer.