17 October 2018 - On October 15, the Montenegrin Intellectual Property Office revoked the working license of the Montenegrin Organization for Collective Management of Music Authors’ Rights – PAM CG. This move was assessed as illegal by the representatives of PAM CG, as they have already announced that they will appeal this decision.
PAM CG is an organization founded with the main goal to ensure the respect of property rights related to the so-called intangible assets, precisely, the works of music recorded in music writing. PAM CG collects the royalties on behalf of domestic and foreign right-holders, which include the holders of small rights (public performance of musical works) and mechanical rights (reproduction and distribution of recorded music). This organization is now facing working license revoking, based on the initiative signed by some of Montenegro's most reputable people, which have previously had issues with the PAM CG Organization in the aspects of their sense of justice, transparency and respecting the law.
In the Decision on the Withdrawal of the License, it was stated that the Intellectual Property Office received an initiative for revoking the license for performing the activities of collective realization of copyrights and related rights to PAM. The Decision also states that the initiative points to the Economic Court’s judgment on the misuse of rights, non-transparency and irregularities in the work, as well as mismanagement of funds.
The initiative was signed by lawyer Ana Đukanović, representative of the Montenegrin National Tourist Organization Željka Radak Kukavičić, representative of Montenegrin Public Enterprise for Coastal Zone Management Predrag Jejušić, representative of Montenegrin Tourism Association Milena Raičković, composer Miodrag Bole Bosković, GM of Hilton Hotel Nemanja Nikolić, representative of EMC Group Mihailo Tomanović, founder of the EXIT Festival Dušan Kovačević and composer Slobodan Kovačević.
The Intellectual Property Office did not issue an official confirmation of the event but briefly announced that they would report on the case in due time.
