The 50-year anniversary of the German collecting society for performing artists record
producers and organizers the German Collecting Society for Performance Rights (GVL) was
marked by a symposium sponsored by the Institute for the Legal Protection of Industrial
Property and Copyright Humboldt-University of Berlin in the fall of 2009. The now published
and revised contributions to the symposium address a variety of topics including a historical
review of the GVL a critical analysis of German collecting societies' situation in light of
European competition as well as the expectations of performance artists record producers and
users with regard to the GVL.
