Language of document :

Request for a preliminary ruling from the Oberlandesgericht Wien (Austria) lodged on 15 September 2020 – Austro-Mechana Gesellschaft zur Wahrnehmung mechanisch-musikalischer Urheberrechte Gesellschaft mbH v Strato AG

(Case C-433/20)

Language of the case: German

Referring court

Oberlandesgericht Wien

Parties to the main proceedings

Appellant: Austro-Mechana Gesellschaft zur Wahrnehmung mechanisch-musikalischer Urheberrechte Gesellschaft mbH

Respondent: Strato AG

Questions referred

Is the expression ‘on any medium’ in Article 5(2)(b) of Directive 2001/29/EC 1 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 (‘Directive 2001/29’) to be interpreted as meaning that it also includes servers owned by third parties which make available to natural persons (customers) for private use (and for ends that are neither directly nor indirectly commercial) storage space on those servers which those customers use for reproduction by storage (‘cloud computing’)?

If so: is the provision cited in Question 1 to be interpreted as meaning that it is applicable to national legislation under which the author is entitled to equitable remuneration (remuneration for exploitation of the right of reproduction on storage media), in the case:

-    where a work (which has been broadcast, made available to the public or recorded on a storage medium produced for commercial purposes) is by its nature likely to be reproduced for personal or private use by being stored ‘on a storage medium of any kind which is suitable for such reproduction and, in the course of a commercial activity, is placed on the market in national territory’,

-    and where the storage method used in that context is that described in Question 1?

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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 2001 L 167, p. 10).