Case C-162/10: Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 15 March 2012 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the High Court of Ireland — Ireland) — Phonographic Performance (Ireland) Ltd v Ireland, Attorney General (Copyright and related rights — Directive 2006/115/EC — Articles 8 and 10 — Concepts of ‘user’ and ‘communication to the public’ — Installation in hotel bedrooms of televisions and/or radios to which the hotelier distributes a broadcast signal)
Date: 2012-03-15
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: broadcasting, copyright, hotel industry, music








C_2012133EN.01000302.xml










5.5.2012   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 133/3





Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 15 March 2012 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the High Court of Ireland — Ireland) — Phonographic Performance (Ireland) Ltd v Ireland, Attorney General
(Case C-162/10) (1)

(Copyright and related rights - Directive 2006/115/EC - Articles 8 and 10 - Concepts of ‘user’ and ‘communication to the public’ - Installation in hotel bedrooms of televisions and/or radios to which the hotelier distributes a broadcast signal)
2012/C 133/05
Language of the case: English

Referring court

High Court of Ireland

Parties to the main proceedings


Applicant: Phonographic Performance (Ireland) Ltd

Defendants: Ireland, Attorney General

Re:

Reference for a preliminary ruling — High Court of Ireland — Interpretation of Articles 8(2) and 10(1)(a) of Directive 2006/115/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2006 on rental right and lending right and on certain rights related to copyright in the field of intellectual property (OJ 2006 L 376, p. 28) — Broadcasting and communication to the public of phonograms — Right to a single equitable remuneration for artists and producers — Concept of ‘user’ and of ‘communication to the public’ — Installation in hotel rooms of televisions and/or radios to which the hotel company distributes a broadcast signal

Operative part of the judgment







1.


A hotel operator which provides in guest bedrooms televisions and/or radios to which it distributes a broadcast signal is a ‘user’ making a ‘communication to the public’ of a phonogram which may be played in a broadcast for the purposes of Article 8(2) of Directive 2006/115/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2006 on rental right and lending right and on certain rights related to copyright in the field of intellectual property;










2.


A hotel operator which provides in guest bedrooms televisions and/or radios to which it distributes a broadcast signal is obliged to pay equitable remuneration under Article 8(2) of Directive 2006/115 for the broadcast of a phonogram, in addition to that paid by the broadcaster;










3.


A hotel operator which provides in guest bedrooms, not televisions and/or radios to which it distributes a broadcast signal, but other apparatus and phonograms in physical or digital form which may be played on or heard from such apparatus, is a ‘user’ making a ‘communication to the public’ of a phonogram within the meaning of Article 8(2) of Directive 2006/115/EC. It is therefore obliged to pay ‘equitable remuneration’ under that provision for the transmission of those phonograms;










4.


Article 10(1)(a) of Directive 2006/115, which provides for a limitation to the right to equitable remuneration provided for by Article 8(2) of that directive in the case of ‘private use’, does not allow Member States to exempt a hotel operator which makes a ‘communication to the public’ of a phonogram, within the meaning of Article 8(2) of that directive, from the obligation to pay such remuneration.






(1)  OJ C 161, 19.6.2010.