PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today CISAC (International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers) announced the fourth biennial World Creators Summit - Create, Connect, Respect, which will be held June 4-5, 2013, in Washington, DC (USA).

Formerly known as the World Copyright Summit, this conference is the leading international and cross-industry forum addressing the future of the creative community and the entertainment business in the digital economy. Now in its fourth edition, the Summit brings together the world’s most prominent creative artists, government officials, and industry leaders to exchange views on the value of creative works, the future of copyright, the role of creators, and the collective management of authors’ rights. While copyright issues remain central to a discussion about the economic and moral value of a creative work, the event’s new name expresses the expanded focus on creators. The Summit’s slogan, “Create – Connect – Respect,” encapsulates the event’s vision of a fair and sustainable environment for the creative sector.

“The change to the event name – from World Copyright Summit to World Creators Summit - makes clear the emphasis on the creator, whose work is the foundation of creative industries,” said Hervé Di Rosa, French visual artist and CISAC Acting President. “Copyright remains at the core of any discussion on creative activity and creators’ ability to thrive in the digital era,” said Olivier Hinnewinkel, CISAC Director General.

The Summit aims to establish a constructive dialogue and discuss solutions with all the stakeholders in the new digital economy – from creators, rights organizations and guilds, to content service providers, broadcasters, telecommunications operators, hardware manufacturers, legal experts and policy-makers.

The 2011 edition of the Summit in Brussels brought together over 730 participants from around the world (57 countries represented) and over 130 speakers, including:

• Javed Akhtar, Indian scriptwriter, poet and lyricist
• Carlo d'Asaro Biondo, Google VP for Southern and Eastern Europe, MEA
• Michel Barnier, European Commissioner, Internal Market & Services
• Victoria Espinel, White House IP Enforcement Coordinator
• Robin Gibb, Bee Gees singer & songwriter and CISAC former President
• Francis Gurry, WIPO Director General
• Jean-Michel Jarre, author, composer and performer
• Ivo Josipović, President of Croatia & music composer
• Neelie Kroes, European Commission VP and Digital Agenda Commissioner
• Arnaud Nourry, Hachette Livre Chairman & CEO
• Frank Stella, US painter & sculptor

See the complete recap of the 2011 Summit, with video and photos.

CISAC is the leading worldwide network of collective management organisations and a unique international NGO uniting 231 authors’ societies and guilds in 121 countries, thus representing over 3 million creators and publishers from all creative genres (music, film, visual arts and literary). In 2010, worldwide royalties collected by CISAC members on behalf of creators reached €7.5 billion ($9.6 billion).