Case C-37/24, DADA Music and UPFR: Judgment of the Court (Sixth Chamber) of 10 July 2025 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Curtea de Apel București – Romania) – Uniunea Producătorilor de Fonograme din România (UPFR) v DADA Music SRL (Reference for a preliminary ruling – Approximation of laws – Intellectual property – Collective management of copyright and related rights – Directive 2006/115/EC – Article 8(2) – Broadcasting and communication to the public – Directive 2014/26/EU – Second subparagraph of Article 16(2) – Licensing – Radio broadcasting – Concepts of equitable remuneration and appropriate remuneration – Criteria for assessing the equitable or appropriate nature – Article 17(2) and Article 52(1) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union – Fundamental right to the protection of intellectual property – Scope and interpretation of rights and principles – National legislation repealing a system of minimum flat-rate remuneration)
Date: 2025-07-10
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: audiovisual industry, broadcasting, copyright, remuneration of work, revenue








C_202504722EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2025/4722


8.9.2025






Judgment of the Court (Sixth Chamber) of 10 July 2025 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Curtea de Apel București – Romania) – Uniunea Producătorilor de Fonograme din România (UPFR) v DADA Music SRL


(Case C-37/24,
                (1)
DADA Music and UPFR)

(Reference for a preliminary ruling - Approximation of laws - Intellectual property - Collective management of copyright and related rights - Directive 2006/115/EC - Article 8(2) - Broadcasting and communication to the public - Directive 2014/26/EU - Second subparagraph of Article 16(2) - Licensing - Radio broadcasting - Concepts of ‘equitable remuneration’ and ‘appropriate remuneration’ - Criteria for assessing the equitable or appropriate nature - Article 17(2) and Article 52(1) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union - Fundamental right to the protection of intellectual property - Scope and interpretation of rights and principles - National legislation repealing a system of minimum flat-rate remuneration)
(C/2025/4722)
Language of the case: Romanian

Referring court

Curtea de Apel București

Parties to the main proceedings


Applicant: Uniunea Producătorilor de Fonograme din România (UPFR)

Defendant: DADA Music SRL

Interested party: Asociația Radiourilor Locale și Regionale (ARLR)

Operative part of the judgment







1.


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 and the second subparagraph of Article 16(2) of Directive 2014/26/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2014 on collective management of copyright and related rights and multi-territorial licensing of rights in musical works for online use in the internal market and Article 17 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, read in the light of Article 52(1) thereof,
must be interpreted as not precluding national legislation which does not guarantee minimum flat-rate remuneration to phonogram producers for the broadcasting of phonograms published for commercial purposes and which repeals, with effect from 90 days after its publication, the provisions relating to minimum flat-rate remuneration applicable to broadcasting established by a previously applicable methodology, without, however, altering the criteria for calculating remuneration and without providing for a maximum period for adopting a new methodology for quantifying the remuneration, provided that that legislation guarantees that the remuneration paid to rightholders is equitable or appropriate and that it complies with the principle of proportionality.










2.


It is for the national court before which a dispute has been brought regarding the equitable or appropriate nature of remuneration payable to rightholders for the broadcasting of phonograms published for commercial purposes, calculated according to the rules defined by national law, to verify whether that remuneration is equitable or appropriate within the meaning of Article 8(2) of Directive 2006/115 and the second subparagraph of Article 16(2) of Directive 2014/26, that is, that it guarantees a balance between the interests of rightholders and those of the users of those phonograms. If the application of that legislation does not allow for such remuneration to be set, the provisions of those directives cannot be relied on to exclude that legislation, unless domestic law provides otherwise.






(1)  OJ C, C/2024/2728.


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2025/4722/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)