The association takes a position only where its members have a direct professional interest, and publishes the reasoning so that members who disagree can see exactly what they are disagreeing with.
Adopted at the 2025 Congress by a vote of 71% to 29%. Clearwater asks that any licence permitting a work to be used as machine-training material be severable from the publishing grant, time-limited, and separately remunerated. It does not ask that such licensing be prohibited.
The 29% who voted against are recorded in the minutes as objecting on two grounds: that severability is unenforceable in practice, and that a standard which contemplates licensing at all concedes too much. Both objections are reproduced in full in the comment record.
A title unavailable in any edition for eighteen months should revert to its author automatically, without application. Our 2024 survey of 3,100 members found a median wait of 14 months when reversion had to be requested, and 61% of requests required more than one letter.
Royalty statements should itemise by channel and carry a reconcilable unit count. We do not consider this a radical position; it is ordinary commercial practice in every other licensing trade.
The association has repeatedly declined to adopt positions on retail pricing, on the tax treatment of advances outside member jurisdictions, and on questions of editorial content. Members disagree about these in good faith and the association has no standing to resolve it for them.