CCC Rights Question

The Copyright Clearance Center, which licenses photocopying and other secondary rights, allows only one rights holder to register a work. When two or more rights holders register the same work, the CCC requires them to work out the division of royalties and the ultimate registrant among themselves.

That's straightforward enough, but what are the responsibilities of a rights holder who is the only one to register a work? If s/he registers the work and collects royalties, is s/he responsible for contacting all other rights holders and distributing royalties to them, or can s/he view the royalties as being for use of her rights alone?

Say the work is an illustrated article and the registrant is the writer who only claims rights to the text. Would the royalties s/he collects be for text alone? Or is the writer responsible for distributing a share of the royalties to the photographer, for photo rights, the publisher, for layout rights, and every other possible rights holder?

If the latter is true and the writer keeps all the royalties, is her failure to pay the other rights holder a civil or criminal matter? What's the offense?

• Mike Bradley <mbradley[_at_]techpubs.com>