- 5 - No legal proceedings may be instituted at the expense of the Society until after the matter has been discussed
by the Syndicate and the advice of the judicial council has been received, as explained above.
In such cases where the Syndicate does not consider it appropriate to undertake legal proceedings at the expense
of the Society, the member concerned shall be entitled to do so at his own expense, risk and peril, but only after the
Syndicate has formally refused to occupy itself with the matter.
ART. 17 – The Syndicate is invested with the most extensive powers in order to enable it to take all measures vis-
à-vis public enterprises or establishments which it deems appropriate for the fulfilment of agreements and for safeguarding
the royalties due to members of the Society and their interests.
Once adopted, such measures will become binding for all members of the Society to the same extent as the provisions
of the present act.
All disputes raised by authors, composers and publishers of music amongst each other, in particular with regard
to the composition of, and property in, musical works, are to be settled, without right of appeal, by the Syndicate, which, if
it so requires, in order to shed light on the matter, may refer it to the judicial council.
The members who form part of the Syndicate are bound by the acceptance of their mandate to fulfil as diligently and as
best as possible the duties which are imposed on them by the preceding articles. Their obligations are unsalaried, as they will
take them upon themselves for no other reason than their devotion to the interests of the Society.
ART. 18 – Members of the Society are forbidden to arrange for any lyrical work, consisting of music and/or words, to
be staged, sung or performed in a theatre or public establishment of whatever sort, except through the agency of the Syndicate
or the duly authorized Agent-General.
The only exceptions to this clause are as follows: dramatic works (operas, vaudevilles or comical scenes) staged or to be
staged in theatres, and for which the collection of royalties is or will be carried out by the agents of the dramatic authors
Concerned, since this Society does not wish to encroach in any way on the functions or royalties of the Society of Playwrights
[
Société des Auteurs Dramatiques], such as they are currently in place.
All members of the Society are, moreover, forbidden to enter into any private agreements with theatres,
cafés-chantants,
concerts and public establishments of whatever kind.
ART. 19 – In the partition of authorial royalties collected at concerts,
cafés-chantants, and generally in all public
establishments, the author of the text will be entitled to a third, the composer of the music to a third and the publisher to a
third of these royalties.
With regard to royalties collected in theatres on behalf of dramatic authors, these will be divided equally between the
author of the text and the composer.
ART. 20 – Authors and composers shall be entitled to have their works published by any publisher whom they wish to
engage for this task.
Music publishers who are members of the Society are in their turn entitled to publish any musical work by an author or
composer, regardless of whether the latter is a member or non-member; but under no circumstances can authors and composers
transfer the