Music authors and other professions are entitled to a remuneration from imported smartphones
According to the Supreme Court's ruling in the OSA vs. Vodafone case, music authors and other artistic professions are entitled to remuneration from imported smartphones that can be used to store, share and copy music, films, images or books. The existing exemption for mobile phones, which was introduced in 2006 by a decree of the Ministry of Culture, should be interpreted in line with technological developments as applying only to simple push-button phones. This decision underlines the importance of copyright protection in the digital era.
Key decision points
The court found that smartphones serve as a key tool for accessing music, films, books or other forms of digital content and that they allow copies of these works to be made for personal use. Therefore, the mobile phone exception cannot, in principle, apply to products commonly referred to in the course of trade as 'smart mobile phones' characterised by a standard user capability to reproduce recordings, including recordings of protected works, for the personal use of their users.
The Court's decision is firmly based on European legislation, the case law of the CJEU and international standards that recognise the right of authors to fair remuneration for the distribution of their works. At the same time, the Supreme Court stressed that the decision is not directed against technological progress, but aims to strike a balance between the development of modern technology and a sustainable model of copyright protection.
OSA and others involved in copyright protection welcome this move as an important step to strengthen intellectual property protection in the digital era. "The Court held that the possibility of making a copy freely by any one of us for private use must in such a case be regarded as an act which may cause harm to the author or artist concerned, since it is done without his prior permission. EU Member States are therefore obliged to introduce a special system of remuneration if such harm is caused to rightholders," said Roman Strejček, Chairman of the OSA Management Board, in response to the court's decision.
Impact on importers
It is necessary to distinguish between simple "button" phones, which allow private copies to be made to a negligible extent and which were therefore exempted from the levy obligation in the decree, and smart mobile phones, which allow private copies to be made virtually without loss of quality and to an unlimited extent. The smartphone is thus subject to a levy in lieu of remuneration. "I consider it important to emphasise that the right to remuneration does not arise from the use of the smartphone by the user, as has been falsely stated in some media. The remuneration is already paid by the importer of the phones from each device imported into the Czech Republic, which has been respected by many importers for many years," Strejček added.
The collection of remuneration from imported or even received or manufactured smartphones is quite common in the EU, including in countries such as Slovakia, Hungary and Croatia. In the Czech Republic, too, this practice is already recognised by a number of entities and they regularly pay the remuneration for imported smartphones to collective management organizations. Thanks to the confirmation of the claim by the Supreme Court, the OSA is now addressing the issue of collecting the remuneration from the rest of the market, going back several years.
Next steps
The Supreme Court returned the case to the Municipal Court in Prague for further proceedings, so it is still a live dispute. "In the coming days, OSA will initiate negotiations with those importers of smartphones who argued for an exemption for mobile phones to settle the past and set up proper cooperation for the future," Strejček outlines the next steps for OSA.
Contact for more information
Kateřina Růžičková
Office of the Management Board, Communications and PR
M: +420 604 149 974
E: katerina.ruzickova@osa.cz