Request for a preliminary ruling from the Consiglio di Stato (Italy) lodged on 2 March 2015 — Nokia Italia SpA and Others v Ministero per i beni e le attività culturali (MiBAC) and Others
(Case C-110/15)
Language of the case: Italian
Referring court
Consiglio di Stato
Parties to the main proceedings
Appellants: Nokia Italia SpA, Hewlett-Packard Italiana srl, Telecom Italia SpA, Samsung Electronics Italia SpA, Dell SpA, Fastweb SpA, Sony Mobile Communications Italy SpA, Wind Telecomunicazioni SpA
Respondents: Ministero per i beni e le attività culturali (MiBAC), Società italiana degli autori ed editori (SIAE), Istituto per la tutela dei diritti degli artisti interpreti esecutori (IMAIE), in liquidazione, Associazione nazionale industrie cinematografiche audiovisive e multimediali (Anica), Associazione produttori televisivi (Apt)
Questions referred
Does Community law, and in particular recital 31 in the preamble to, and Article 5(2)(b) of, Directive 2001/29/EC, 1 preclude national rules (in particular, Article 71-sexies of the Italian Legge sul Diritto d’autore (Law on copyright), in conjunction with Article 4 of the [Decree of] 30 December 2009) that provide that, in the case of media and devices acquired for purposes clearly unrelated to private copying (that is to say, for professional use only), determination of the criteria for ‘ex ante’ exemption from the levy is left to private negotiation, or ‘free bargaining’, with particular regard to the ‘application protocols’ referred to in Article 4 above, failing any general provisions and any guarantee of equal treatment between the SIAE and persons obliged to pay the compensation, or their trade or professional associations?
Does Community law, and in particular recital 31 in the preamble to, and Article 5(2)(b) of, Directive 2001/29/EC, preclude national rules (in particular Article 71-sexies of the Italian Law on copyright, in conjunction with the [Decree of] 30 December 2009, and the instructions on reimbursement given by the SIAE, that provide that, in the case of media and devices acquired for purposes clearly unrelated to private copying (that is to say, for professional use only), reimbursement may be requested only by the final user rather than the producer of the media and devices?
________________________1 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 L 167, p. 10).