High Court Refers Hotel TV Questions to the European Court of Justice
On 23 March, Ms Justice Finlay Geoghegan referred a number of questions to the European Court of Justice arising from an action taken by the music collecting society, Phonographic Performance (Ireland) Ltd (PPI), against the State.
PPI argued that hotels in Ireland are obliged as a matter of Community law to pay copyright fees for music played in hotel bedrooms.
At present hotels are not obliged to pay copyright fees for music played in hotel bedrooms because section 97(1) of the Copyright and Related Rights Acts 2000-2007 provides that there is no infringement of copyright where a sound recording is heard or viewed ‘in part of the premises where sleeping accommodation is provided for the residents’.
PPI argued that this provision is in breach of Article 10 of the Treaty establishing the European Community (now Article 4 of the Treaty on European Union) and is seeking damages. According to the Irish Times, PPI is seeking to charge €1 per hotel room per week and estimates it is losing in the region of €2.6 million a year.
In an interim decision, Ms Justice Finlay Geoghegan asked the Court of Justice for clarification on a number of issues:-
- Does a hotel which has TVs and radios in its bedrooms fall into the category of users which have to pay equitable remuneration under Article 8(2) of the Codified Directive 2006/115/EC? If it does, the Court of Justice will then have to decide whether Article 8(2) obliges hotel operators to pay copyright fees in addition to the fees paid by the broadcaster.
- Does Article 10 of the Directive 2006/115/EC permit Member States to exempt hotel operators for paying the copyright fees on the grounds of “private use”?
