of creative composers and lyricists." In 2005, the board of arbitration of the German Patent and Trademark Office in Munich decided in favor of GEMA, preventing the proposed licensing fee rate-reduction. Other arbitration processes attempted by the IFPI (regarding music videos, downloads, and ring tones) in 2006 were decided in favor of GEMA by the board of arbitration of the German Patent and Trademark Office. GEMA also exercises the rights of authors in the online sector. GEMA licenses responsible content providers, such as Musicload, Apple's iTunes Store, Spotify, Napster, and others. The data is provided by GEMA itself; since 1 January 2007, the exercise of online usage rights for certain parts of its inventory is no longer managed by GEMA, but rather through . The charges for performances and background music are tiered. The playback of GEMA-protected music in telephone systems as background music for answering messages or on-hold music also must be declared to GEMA. Many businesses (especially small ones) are unaware of this obligation. The same applies to the valorization of internet presence through audio-branding involving the use of music. Since April 2003, GEMA offers access to its database of musical works on its website, including approximately 1.6 Million copyrighted musical works. Legal basis All collective rights management societies operate on the basis of laws and ordinances. Within the European Community, these collecting societies derive their legitimacy from constitutional protections for intellectual property and intangible assets, in the form of intellectual property law, which is enshrined in the constitutions of European states. Although the concept of intellectual property had already been established in the 1866 constitution of the North German Confederation as well as in the 1871 Constitution of the German Empire, Article 14 of the current Grundgesetz () only generally addresses property rights, inheritance law, and expropriation, including the issue of intellectual property. By contrast, in the constitution of the free state of Bavaria—and also previously in Baden and Greater Hesse, which were formed before the Grundgesetz (1949)—the intellectual property of authors, inventors, and artists come under the direct protection of the state, which explicitly allows for the existence of collecting societies. Furthermore, collecting societies receive their legitimacy from German author's rights (), which is legally regulated in all European states. German author's rights law () grants authors a range of exploitation rights () that the individual author would find difficult to exercise without the assistance of