Greece: reference for preliminary ruling concerning hotel TV

Greek court "Arios Pagos" has filed a reference for preliminary ruling on wether the mere installation of television sets by a hotelier in hotel rooms and their connection to the central antenna installed in the hotel, without any other action, intermediation or intervention by the hotelier, constituted communication of the work to the public within the meaning of Article 3(1) of Directive 2001/29/EC, and, in particular, in accordance with the aforementioned judgment of the Court of Justice of 7 December 2006 in Case C-306/05 Sociedad General de Autores y Editores de España (SGAE) v Rafael Hoteles SA, and whether this would involve the distribution of a signal, via television sets, to customers who stay in the hotel rooms, by means of the technical intervention of the hotelier.

ECJ Case 136/09 - Organismos Sillogikis Diakhirisis Dimiourgon Theatrikon kai Optikoakoustikon Ergon v. Divani Acropolis Hotel and Tourism AE;
reference published in Official Journal of the European Union of 20.06.2009.

Airport Laptop Searches and Anti-Counterfeiting

This is an interesting item out of the G8 meetings held this week. The G8 is looking at plans to give airports the power to scan portable media players for copyrighted material when you fly under its upcoming Anti-counterfeiting Trade Agreement. This would give custom officials the power to scan MP3 players, laptops and even mobile phones for illegally-obtained copyrighted material when passengers pass through borders. The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement Measures form part of an international agreement aimed at stamping out piracy. What next? Talk about George Orwell's 1984

Originally published in Association of Retail Travel Agents ARTA E-News For July 11, 2008

Court of Justice Finds Distribution of a Signal by Means of TV Sets by a Hotel to its Customers Protected by Copyright

The SGAE (the body responsible for the management of intellectual property rights in Spain) took the view that the use of television sets and the playing of ambient music within the hotel owned by Rafael Hotels SA involved communication to the public of works belonging to the repertoire which it manages. Considering that those acts gave rise to breach of copyright, SGAE brought an action before the Spanish courts. The Audiencia Provincial (Provincial Court) of Barcelona referred the matter to the Court of Justice. In the decision of 7th Dec. 2006 (Case C-306/05), the Court pointed out, that the concept of ‘communication to the public’ had to be interpreted broadly in order to achieve the principal objective of the directive, that is to establish a high level of protection in favour, amongst others, of authors, allowing them to obtain an appropriate reward for the use of their works, in particular when these were communicated to the public. It was necessary to take into account the fact that, usually, hotel customers quickly succeed each other. As a general rule, a fairly large number of persons are involved, so that they may be considered to be a public, having regard to the principal objective of the directive. Therefore, if, by means of television sets thus installed, the hotel distributed the signal to customers staying in its rooms or present in any other area of the hotel, a communication to the public took place, irrespective of the technique used to transmit the signal. The private or public nature of the place where the communication takes place was immaterial.
Source: ECJ Press Release 95/06,
http://curia.europa.eu/en/actu/communiques/cp06/aff/cp060095en.pdf

(Originally posted by Michael Wukoschitz)