The amount of the levy payable for making private copies of a protected work may not take unlawful reproductions into account

 

The European Copyright Directive* permits Member States to lay down an exception to the exclusive reproduction right of holders of copyright and related rights so that private copies may be made (the private copying exception). 

It also provides that Member States which decide to introduce such an exception into their national law are required to provide for the payment of ‘fair compensation’ to copyright holders in order to compensate them adequately for the use of their protected works or other subject-matter.

 

In its judgment delivered on 10 April 2014, the European Court points out that if Member States were free to adopt legislation permitting, inter alia, reproductions for private use to be made from an unlawful source, the result of that would clearly be detrimental to the proper functioning of the internal market. Similarly, the objective of proper support for the dissemination of culture may not be achieved by sacrificing strict protection of copyright or by tolerating illegal forms of distribution of counterfeited or pirated works.

 

Consequently, the European Court holds that national legislation which makes no distinction between private copies made from lawful sources and those made from counterfeited or pirated sources cannot be tolerated. National legislation which does not distinguish between lawful and unlawful private reproductions is not capable of ensuring a proper application of the private copying exception. The fact that no applicable technological measure exists to combat the making of unlawful private copies is not capable of calling that finding into question.

 

Furthermore, the levy system must ensure that a fair balance is maintained between the rights and interests of authors (as the recipients of the fair compensation) and those of users of protected subject-matter. A private copying levy system, which does not, as regards the calculation of the fair compensation payable to its recipients, distinguish between the lawful or unlawful nature of the source from which a private reproduction has been made, does not respect that fair balance.

 

Source: Press Release European Court

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One remark: As a result of this decision of the European Court, the Dutch government decided that downloading of IP protected material or from an illegal source is now forbidden in The Netherlands. This is a civil law matter. People who illegally download music do not run the risk of criminal prosecution.

 

Karel Frielink

 

(11 April 2014)

 

Karel's Legal Blog

 

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* Directive 2001/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2001 on the harmonization of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society (OJ 2001 L 167, p. 10).

 

 

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