Conclusion

Abstract

Technologies have always been natural catalysts of change, but the digital technologies of our time have surely transformed social, cultural, and economic interaction faster and more deeply than it has ever happened in any society throughout history. The impact of collaboration tools in the activity of creating intellectual content transformed the way collective management organizations operate and current market requirements demand legal adaptation to face this new reality. Collecting societies are important players in the content industry, and a number of relevant issues are addressed in the ongoing redesigning process of the legal model in which they operate, many of which are not even superficially discussed in this work, like strictly illegal or non-commercial uses, exceptions or protection of cultural heritage, for this would exceed its scope as it was delimited, that is to say, issues of competition, transparency, and multi-territorial licensing of rights over online protected works that are collectively managed.