Rental Directive

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Directive 92/100/EEC
European Union directive
Flag of Europe.svg
TitleDirective on rental right and lending right and on certain rights related to copyright in the field of intellectual property
Made by Council of the European Union
Made underArts. 57(2), 66 & 100a
Journal referenceL346, 1992-11-27, p. 61
History
Date made19 November 1992
Came into force27 November 1992
Implementation date1 July 1994
Preparative texts
Commission proposalC53, 1991-02-28, p. 35
C128, 1992-05-20, p. 8
EESC opinionC269, 1991-10-14, p. 54
EP opinionC67, 1992-03-16, p. 92
Reports 
Other legislation
Replaces
Amends
Amended by Directive 93/98/EEC, Directive 2001/29/EC
Replaced by Directive 2006/115/EC;
Repealed

Directive 92/100/EEC is a European Union directive in the field of copyright law, made under the internal market provisions of the Treaty of Rome. It creates a "rental and lending right" as a part of copyright protection, and sets out minimum standards of protection for the related rights of performers, phonogram and film producers and broadcasting organizations.

Contents

Rental and lending right

The following rightsholders have the exclusive right, subject to limitations, to authorize or prohibit the rental or lending of their works [Art. 2(1)]:

This list is limitative: Portugal has been censured by the European Court of Justice for creating a lending and rental right in favor of videogame producers, as this annulled the exclusive nature of the rights of film producers.

The rental and lending right may be transferred, and is presumed to be transferred in film production contracts unless they contain provisions to the contrary [Art. 2(5)]: Member States may extend the presumption to authors and performers. However, even once the rental and lending right is transferred, the author or performer retains an inalienable and unaidable right to equitable compensation for the rental and lending of their works: this compensation is administered by the collecting societies.

Member States may allow a derogation for public lending (i.e. public libraries) provided that authors obtain some royalties [Art. 5(1)]. Member States may also exempt "certain categories of establishments" from the payment of royalties [Art. 5(2)]. These provisions is interpreted strictly: Portugal has been censured for a transposition which effectively exempted all public institutions from payment of royalties, and Belgium for failing to set a rate of remuneration (making its collection impossible).

Several countries already had Public Lending Right systems. However, the European Commission pointed out in a report in 2002 [1] that many of these PLR systems failed to correctly implement the directive.

The Directive sets out the minimum rights which Member States must accord to performers, phonogram and film producers and broadcasting organizations (related rights), based closely on the provisions of the Rome Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organizations. The preamble is clear (para. 20) that Member States may go beyond this minimum protection if they so wish. The fixation right (Art. 6) for performers with respect to their performances and broadcasting organizations with respect to their broadcasts is the exclusive right to authorize or prohibit recording. The reproduction right (Art. 7) is the exclusive right to authorize or prohibit reproduction:

The distribution right (Art. 9) is the exclusive right to make available to the public, for sale or otherwise, subject to the first-sale doctrine:

The fixation right, by its nature, is personal: the reproduction and distribution rights may be transferred, assigned or licensed.

Performers have the exclusive right to authorize or prohibit the broadcasting of their live performances, but not of recordings nor of rebroadcasts [Art. 8(1)]. Broadcasting organizations have the exclusive right to authorize or prohibit the rebroadcasting of their broadcasts "by wireless means", and the communication of their broadcasts to the public in places which charge an entrance fee [Art. 8(3)]. Phonogram producers have the right to an equitable remuneration (which may be fixed by agreement or regulation) if their published recordings are broadcast or played in public: this royalty is shared with the performers [Art. 8(2)].

The limitations on related rights are of the same nature as limitations on copyright. Four possible limitations are explicitly mentioned in Article 10:

This article is an almost verbatim copy of Article 15 of the Rome Convention.

Duration

The Directive originally fixed minimum periods of protection for the authors' rights and related rights which it created (Arts. 11, 12) in line with the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works and the Rome Convention "without prejudice to further harmonization". The further harmonization came with the Directive harmonizing the term of protection of copyright and certain related rights, which fixed the protection periods across the EU and repealed these two articles.

RightsDirective 92/100/EEC
minimum
Directive 93/98/EEC
harmonized
Authors' rights50 years from the death of the author70 years from the death of the author
Related rights
(of performers, phonogram producers and broadcasting organisations)
20 years from the date of fixation, performance or broadcast50 years from the date of publication or broadcast, or from the date of fixation, performance in the case of unpublished works

Implementation

Implementation of the Directive by Member States
Flag of Austria.svg Austria Urheberrechtsgesetznovelle 1993, BGBl. No. 93/1993, p. 1166
Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Belgium Loi relative au droit d'auteur et aux droits voisins du 30 juin 1994
Flag of Bulgaria.svg Bulgaria unknown
Flag of Cyprus.svg Cyprus unknown
Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Czech Republic Law No. 121/2000 Coll. of 7 April 2000 on Copyright, Rights Related to Copyright and on the Amendment of Certain Laws
Flag of Denmark.svg Denmark Act No. 706 of 1998-09-29
Act No. 21 of 2000-01-11
Executive Order of 2000-03-29
Flag of Estonia.svg Estonia unknown
Flag of Finland.svg Finland Act No. 446/1995
Act No. 967/1997
Flag of France.svg France Loi No. 92-597 du 1er juillet 1992, JORF No. 153 du 3 juillet 1992
Flag of Germany.svg Germany Act of 1995-06-23, BGB1 I p. 842
Flag of Greece.svg Greece Law No. 2121/93, Official Journal A No. 25
Flag of Hungary.svg Hungary unknown
Flag of Ireland.svg Ireland unknown
Flag of Italy.svg Italy Decree No. 685 of 1994-11-16, GU Gen. No. 293 of 1994-12-16
Decree No. 204 of 1996
Flag of Latvia.svg Latvia Autortiesību likums (2000-04-06)
Flag of Lithuania.svg Lithuania Autorių teisių ir gretutinių teisių įstatimas N. VIII-1185 (1999-05-18)
Flag of Luxembourg.svg Luxembourg Loi du 18 avril 2001, Mémorial A No. 50 du 30 avril 2001, p. 1042
Flag of Malta.svg Malta Copyright Act, 2000
Flag of the Netherlands.svg Netherlands Wet van 21 December 1995, Stb. JS-1995, p. 653
Flag of Poland.svg Poland unknown
Flag of Portugal.svg Portugal Decreto-Lei n. 332/97, de 20 de Novembro de 1994
Flag of Romania.svg Romania unknown
Flag of Slovakia.svg Slovakia Copyright Act of 2003-12-04 (No. 618/1997 Zb.)
Flag of Slovenia.svg Slovenia Zakon o avtorskih in sorodnih pravicah (1995-03-30)
Flag of Spain.svg Spain Ley 43/1994, de 30 de diciembre, de incorporación al Derecho español de la Directiva 92/100/CEE, de 19 de noviembre, sobre derechos de alquiler y préstamo y otros derechos afines a los derechos de autor en el ámbito de la propiedad intelectual
Flag of Sweden.svg Sweden Act 1997:309 of 1997-06-13
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom Public Lending Right Act 1979
Copyright and Related Rights Regulations 1996 No. 2967

See also

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References

  1. ^ Commission of the European Communities v Portuguese Republic (Case C-61/05), Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 2006-07-13.
  2. ^ Commission of the European Communities v Portuguese Republic (Case C-53/05), OJ no. C212 of 2006-09-02, p. 7.
  3. ^ Commission of the European Communities v Kingdom of Belgium (Case C-433/02), OJ no. C289 of 2003-11-29, p. 10; ECR (2003) I-12191.
  4. ^ Rome Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organizations
  5. ^ Rebroadcasting by cable distribution is regulated by the Directive on the co-ordination of certain rules concerning copyright and rights related to copyright applicable to satellite broadcasting and cable retransmission (93/83/EEC), OJ no. L248 of 1993-10-06, p. 15.
  6. ^ The question of limitations on copyright and related rights is treated in more detail (but without amending Art. 10) in the Directive on the harmonization of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society (2001/29/EC), OJ no. L167 of 2001-06-22, p. 10, corrected by OJ no. L006 of 2002-01-10, p. 70.
  7. ^ Council Directive 93/98/EEC of 29 October 1993 harmonizing the term of protection of copyright and certain related rights, OJ no. L290 of 1993-11-24, p. 9.
  8. ^ Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (Paris Act), as amended on 1979-09-28.
  9. ^ Luxembourg has also been censured by the European Court of Justice for its implementation of the public lending right: Commission of the European Communities v Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (Case C-180/05) OJ no. C143 of 2006-06-17, p. 20.