About us

Kopiosto exists to promote the operational conditions of the creative industry. Our objective is to increase the significance of and appreciation for creative content in society. We recognise the significance of the creative industry as a driver of Finland’s growth and enricher of society. For this reason, we also wish to develop the copyright system that forms the basis of the creative industry.

In 2023, we distributed a total of EUR 50 million in copyright remunerations to the creative industry – both directly to copyright holders and organisations representing them.

Our members include 45 Finnish organisations in the fields of culture and communications. We serve more than 80,000 creative professionals, such as writers, visual artists, publishers, translators, actors, directors and journalists.

Our customers include educational institutions, businesses and public administration. Our licences allow them to copy and use copyrighted publications and works digitally and use TV content in a wide variety of ways. We distribute the remunerations collected from licences to use the works to the authors, publishers and performing artists.

We promote creative work according to our values: openly, boldly and together.

We comply with the Act on Collective Management of Copyright, which regulates the operations of copyright organisations, and our operations are monitored by the Finnish Patent and Registration Office. You can read our annual financial statement and transparency report at the bottom of the Finnish About us page.

Legally certain licences for the responsible copying and use of works

We ensure flexible opportunities to use works, while respecting copyrights. Our customers include educational institutions, the Finnish state administration, municipalities, congregations, businesses and communities. We sell licences for various ways to use copyrighted works, such as programmes shown on television as well as books, magazines, newspapers and online materials.

Our legally certain licences make it easy to responsibly copy and use books, online content, TV programmes and other works. For example, our copying licence allows teachers to copy and scan additional material from books, magazines and newspapers for their pupils and use works in distance learning as well.

The usage of works evolves, which is why we develop Kopiosto’s existing copyright licences and also create new licensing solutions. We analyse the use of works in different sectors of society and make use of this research data in the design of new licensing models and planning for the future. By piloting licence products, we collect user experiences for further development. Most recently, we revised the copying licence for educational institutions and expanded the licence to use TV programmes in education.

Remunerations to the creative industry for the use of works

With our comprehensive, easily obtainable licences, we want to make the responsible use of works as easy as possible. Users of works receive a comprehensive licence from one source, while creative professionals receive the remunerations owed to them for the use of their works.

We distribute the remunerations collected from sold licences to authors, performing artists and publishers. In addition to these copyright remunerations, we also distribute compensation for private copying to audiovisual professionals, public lending remunerations to visual artists, and remunerations for the use of e-materials in libraries to visual artists and audiobook readers.

Remunerations for TV programmes are, for the most part, paid as personal remunerations to audiovisual professionals, such as screenwriters, directors and actors. Remunerations for books, magazines, newspapers and online materials are paid to our member organisations, which distribute them to the authors and publishers in the form of various grants and awards, among other things. For example, the Finlandia Prize, Rudolf Koivu Prize and Science Journalist Award are funded with the copyright remunerations we collect.

The payment of remunerations to various groups of authors is based on the remuneration principles decided by our member organisations as well as the data we collect through research. Through research on copying, we determine the amount and content of the copying and printing of books, magazines, newspapers and other printed materials, as well as online materials.

Creative professionals should join Kopiosto. If you create works that are published in printed format or online or shown on television, you should make sure that you have given us authorisation! Your authorisation gives us the right to grant licences to use your works on your behalf. We make sure that your copyright and related rights are respected, your works are only used with a proper authorisation and you receive remuneration for the use of your works.

Advocacy and communications for developing the copyright system

In Kopiosto’s lobbying efforts, we highlight the intrinsic value and significance of culture and its role in people’s wellbeing to decision-makers. On the other hand, we also wish for the creative industry to be understood more broadly as part of the economy in Finland: culture-based business generates economic added value for society.

In our view, modern and functional copyright legislation creates operating opportunities for culture and art. The most recent amendment to the Copyright Act in 2023 only took into account the updating needs necessitated by the EU, leaving national revision needs to be considered separately. At Kopiosto, we work actively to ensure that the Copyright Act will be revised further to reflect the changes happening in society and in the creative industries.

We also support the creative industry by offering copyright webinars and general copyright advice for the members of our member organisations.

For users of works, we provide information on the types of use permitted by copyright licences. For example, we organise roughly 100 training modules on copyrights and licences for teachers and teaching staff each year. The free-of-charge Kopiraittila service that we maintain provides a fun, gamified way to learn and teach copyrights at all school levels.

In our communications, we regularly highlight not only lobbying-related themes and latest news concerning Kopiosto but also individual authors, publishers and performing artists in the creative industry. You can stay up to date on Kopiosto’s communications on social media at @kopiosto or by subscribing to the Kopiosto Uutiset (Kopiosto news) newsletter (in Finnish only), for instance.

AVEK promotes audiovisual culture

AVEK Audiovisual Centre, which operates as part of Kopiosto, supports the works, productions and projects of professionals in the audiovisual industry. AVEK’s funds primarily originate from the compensation for private copying paid from the state budget.

AVEK supports the production of documentaries, short films and media art works as well as the industry’s internationalisation and continuing education for professionals. Each year, 140 film projects and media art works receive support from AVEK.

Examples of works supported by AVEK include Máhccan by Suvi West, which won the Jussi Award for Best Documentary in 2024, and the Silent Trilogy by Juho Kuosmanen. Kuosmanen’s films Romu-Mattila and a Beautiful Woman (2012), The Moonshiners (2017) and A Planet Far Away (2023) had their world premiere as a trilogy in summer 2024.

AVEK uses the creative culture grants allocated to it by the Ministry of Education and Culture based on discretionary government grants to distribute the DigiDemo and CreaDemo grants for the development of cultural content and cultural entrepreneurship. Among those that have received such grants are Oikiat Design’s FabPatch, the Sámi game Skábma – Snowfall by Red Stage Entertainment and the animation series Gigglebug by Gigglebug Entertainment.

Cooperation in Finland and abroad

Kopiosto’s active work as a defender of creative work and as a copyright advocate is also visible in our cooperation with several parties.

We are a member of the IPR University Center Association, which produces and spreads information on intellectual property rights. The IPR University Center Association carries out research and provides education, promoting the utilisation of intellectual property rights and the development of the industry.

As part of the Luovat ry association for creative professionals and entrepreneurs, we promote the operating conditions of the creative industry by influencing legislation and communicating about copyrights in a positive light. Luovat ry also serves as a discussion forum and place to share information for the creative industry.

We monitor unauthorised use of the works we represent in cooperation with the Copyright Information and Anti-Piracy Centre (CIAPC). In the event of infringements, Kopiosto identifies the copyright holders of the infringed materials and determines the authorisations. CIAPC is responsible for requests to remove unauthorised content from the Internet and handles cases in court and with other authorities if necessary.

We cooperate with our Nordic sister organisations in the development of licensing, the distribution of remunerations as well as copyright communications and research, among other things.

We are involved in the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC) and the International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organisations (IFRRO), which represents authors of texts and images as well as publishers. Kopiosto is also a part of the Society of Audiovisual Authors (SAA). These organisations actively advocate in the EU, and CISAC and IFRRO have observer status in the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

We have extensively concluded reciprocal agreements regarding the monitoring of rights and distribution of remunerations with foreign copyright organisations. Under these reciprocal agreements, we may also grant licences for the use of foreign materials and, correspondingly, we are able to collect remunerations for creative professionals for the use of Finnish materials abroad.