Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 9 February 2012 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Handelsgericht Wien - Austria) - Martin Luksan v Petrus van der Let
(Case C-277/10)
(Reference for a preliminary ruling - Approximation of laws - Intellectual property - Copyright and related rights - Directives 93/83/EEC, 2001/29/EC, 2006/115/EC and 2006/116/EC - Sharing of the rights to exploit a cinematographic work, by contract, between the principal director and the producer of the work - National legislation allotting those rights, exclusively and by operation of law, to the film producer - Possibility of departing from that rule by an agreement between the parties - Subsequent rights to remuneration) Language of the case: German
Referring court
Handelsgericht Wien
Parties to the main proceedings
Applicant: Martin Luksan
Defendant: Petrus van der Let
Re:
Reference for a preliminary ruling - Handelsgericht Wien - Interpretation of Article 2(2), (5) and (6) and Article 4 of Council Directive 92/100/EEC of 19 November 1992 on rental right and lending right and on certain rights related to copyright in the field of
intellectual property (OJ 1992 L 346, p. 61), of Articles 1(5) and 2 of Council Directive 93/83/EEC of 27 September 1993 on the coordination of certain rules concerning copyright and rights related to copyright applicable to satellite broadcasting and cable retransmission (OJ 1993 L 248, p. 15), of Articles 2, 3 and 5(2)(b) of Directive 2001/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2001 on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society (OJ 2001 L 167, p. 10) and of Article 2(1) of Directive 2006/116/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2006 on the term of protection of copyright and certain related rights (OJ 2006 L 372, p. 12) - Sharing of the rights to exploit a cinematographic work, by contract, between the author and the producer of the work - National legislation allotting all those rights to the producer
Operative part of the judgment
1. Articles 1 and 2 of Council Directive 93/83/EEC of 27 September 1993 on the coordination of certain rules concerning copyright and rights related to copyright applicable to satellite broadcasting and cable retransmission, and Articles 2 and 3 of Directive 2001/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2001 on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society in conjunction with Articles 2 and 3 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 with Article 2 of Directive 2006/116/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2006 on the term of protection of copyright and certain related rights, must be interpreted as meaning that rights to exploit a cinematographic work such as those at issue in the main proceedings (reproduction right, satellite broadcasting right and any other right of communication to the public through the making available to the public) vest by operation of law, directly and originally, in the principal director. Consequently, those provisions must be interpreted as precluding national legislation which allocates those exploitation rights by operation of law exclusively to the producer of the work in question.
2. European Union law must be interpreted as allowing the Member States the option of laying down a presumption of transfer, in favour of the producer of a cinematographic work, of rights to exploit the cinematographic work such as those at issue in the main proceedings (satellite broadcasting right, reproduction right and any other right of communication to the public through the making available to the public), provided that such a presumption is not an irrebuttable one precluding the principal director of that work from agreeing otherwise.
3. European Union law must be interpreted as meaning that, in his capacity as author of a cinematographic work, the principal director thereof must be entitled, by operation of law, directly and originally, to the right to the fair compensation provided for in Article 5(2)(b) of Directive 2001/29 under the 'private copying' exception.
4. European Union law must be interpreted as not allowing the Member States the option of laying down a presumption of transfer, in favour of the producer of a cinematographic work, of the right to fair compensation vesting in the principal director of that work, whether that presumption is couched in irrebuttable terms or may be departed from.
____________1 - OJ C 246, 11.9.2010.