2003/300/EC: Commission Decision of 8 October 2002 relating to a proceeding under Article 81 of the EC Treaty and Article 53 of the EEA Agreement (Case No COMP/C2/38.014 — IFPI "Simulcasting") (Text with EEA relevance) (notified under document number C(2002) 3639)
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Pursuant to Article 81(3) of the Treaty and Article 53(3) of the EEA Agreement, the provisions of Article 81(1) of the Treaty and Article 53(1) of the EEA Agreement are hereby declared inapplicable for the period from 22 May 2002 to 31 December 2004 to the "Agreement on reciprocal representation to license simulcasts" entered into by the collecting societies identified in Article 2 of this Decision, as lastly notified to the Commission on 22 May 2002.
This Decision is addressed to the following undertakings: Wahrnehmung von Leistungsschutzrechten GesmbH Schreyvogelgasse 2/5 A - 1010 Vienna Société de l'Industrie Musicale Muziek Industrie Maatschappij Place de l'Alma/ Almaplein 3 B5 B - Brussels 1200 Gramex Gl. Kongevej 11-13, 2 DK - 1610 Copenhagen V Gramex Pieni Roobertinkatu 16 FIN - 00120 Helsinki Gesellschaft zur Verwertung von Leistungsschutzrechten mbH Grelckstrasse 36 D - 22529 Hamburg Grammo 24a Salaminos GR - 152 32 Athens Samband Flitjenda og Hljomplötuframleidanda Eidistorg 17 170 Seltjarnarnes Iceland Società Consortile Fonografici Per Azioni S.c.p.a. Via S. Tecla, 5 Milan Italy Phonographic Performance Ireland PPI House 1 Corrig Avenue Dun Laogharie Dublin Ireland Stichting ter Exploitatie van Naburige Rechten Catharina van Reneslaan 8 PO Box 113 1200 AC Hilversum The Netherlands GRAMO Karl Johanseit 21 0159 Oslo Norway Associação Fonográfica Portuguesa Rua Augusto dos Santos 2-4 P - 1050-028 Lisbon IFPI Sweden PO Box 1429 S - 11184 Stockholm IFPI Schweiz Toblerstraße 76A 8044 Zurich Switzerland Phonographic Performance Limited 1 Upper James Street London W1R 3HG United Kingdom Intergram Na Porici 27 110 00 Prague 1 Czech Republic Eesti Fonogrammitootjate Ühing Laki 12 10621 Tallinn Estonia Zwiazek Producentów Audio Video ul. Kruczkowskiego 12/2 00-380 Warsaw Poland Phonographic Performance Ltd Room 3705, 37th Floor, Hopewell Centre 183 Queens Road East Wanchai Hong Kong Phonographic Performance Limited Flameproof Equipments Bldg 2nd Floor, B-39, off New Link Road Nr. Monginis Factory, Andheri (West) Mumbai 400 053 India Public Performance Malaysia Sdn Bhd 2nd Floor, Wisma Haip Lee 139-2, Jalan Segambut 51700 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia Recording Industry Performance Singapore Pte Ltd 163 Tras Street 04-00 Lian Huat Building 079024 Singapore The Association of Recording Copyright Owners 4F, No. 59, Tunghsing Road Hsin-Yi District Taipei, ROC Taiwan Phonorights (Thailand) Ltd 14th Floor, PM Tower 731 Asoke-Dindaeng Road Bangkok 10400 Thailand Cámara Argentina de Productores de Fonogramas y Videogramas Hipolito Yrigoyen 1628 Piso 6 1344 Buenos Aires Argentina Sociedad Mexicana de Productores de Fonogramas, Videogramas y Multimedia S.G.C. Miguel Angel de Quevedo 531 Colonia Romero de Terreros Delegacion Coyoacan 004310 Mexico Unión Peruana de Productores Fonográficos Los Cipreses N. 355 - Lima 27 Peru Camara Uruguaya del Disco Edificio Ciudadela Juncal 1327 Apt 1701 11000 Montevideo Uruguay Recording Industry Association New Zealand 11 York Street Parnell, Auckland New Zealand Done at Brussels, 8 October 2002. For the Commission Mario Monti Member of the Commission (1) OJ 13, 21.2.1962, p. 204/62. (2) OJ L 1, 4.1.2003, p. 1. (3) OJ L 377, 31.12.1994, p. 28. (4) OJ C 231, 17.8.2001, p. 18. (5) OJ C 104, 30.4.2003. (6) The parties define it more precisely as "the simultaneous transmission by radio and TV stations via the Internet of sound recordings included in their single channel and free-to-air broadcasts of radio and/or TV signals, in compliance with the respective regulations on provision of broadcasting services". (7) The TRIPS Agreement corresponds to Annex 1C of the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization, signed in Marrakesh on 15 April 1994. It came into effect on 1 January 1995. (8) The Treaty entered into force on 20 May 2002. (9) All the international treaties previously referred to. (10) WIPO Treaty. (11) Council Directive 91/250/EEC of 14 May 1991 on the legal protection of computer programs (OJ L 122, 17.5.1991, p. 42), as amended by Directive 93/98/EEC (OJ L 29, 24.11.1993, p. 9); 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 L 346, 27.11.1992, p. 61), as last amended by Directive 2001/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 167, 22.6.2001, p. 10); 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 L 248, 6.10.1993, p. 15); Council Directive 93/98/EEC of 29 October 1993 harmonising the term of protection of copyright and certain related rights (OJ L 290, 24.11.1993, p. 9) as amended by Directive 2001/29/EC; Directive 96/9/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 1996 on the legal protection of databases (OJ L 77, 27.3.1996, p. 20); 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, 22.6.2001, p. 10); Directive 2001/84/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 September 2001 on the resale right for the benefit of the author of an original work of art (OJ L 272, 13.10.2001, p. 32). (12) Article 1(4). (13) Case 395/87 Ministère Public v. Tournier, [1989] ECR 2521. (14) Joined cases 110/88, 241/88 and 242/88 Lucazeau v. SACEM, [1989] ECR 2811. (15) "Each Contracting party shall apply to the simulcasters the license fees which apply in the other Contracting Party's territory for those simulcasts received in the latter's territory". (16) See Commission Notice on the definition of relevant market for the purposes of Community competition law (OJ C 372, 9.12.1997, p. 5, point 17). (17) Given the absence of a phonogram producers' collecting society in Luxembourg and Liechstenstein, producers' simulcasting rights for these territories will be administered by other societies that are party to the Reciprocal Agreement. Simulcast licences for Liechtenstein will be administered by IFPI Schweiz. The territory of Luxembourg is covered by the Reciprocal Agreement and any participating EEA society will be able to issue licences to simulcasters based in Luxembourg, consistent with the principles set out in the Agreement. (18) See Commission notice on the definition of relevant market for the purposes of Community competition law, point 8. (19) See Commission notice on the definition of relevant market for the purposes of Community competition law, point 17. (20) See Commission notice on the definition of relevant market for the purposes of Community competition law, point 30. (21) Under certain circumstances, national legislation in some Member States confers to collecting societies a legal monopoly for the exploitation of rights. (22) Case 127/73, BRT v. SV SABAM et NV Fonior [1974] ECR 313. (23) Case 7/82, GVL v. Commission [1983] ECR 483. (24) OJ C 231, 17.8.2001, p. 18. (25) OJ C 3, 6.1.2001, p. 2. (26) "Memorandum concerning issues arising from the country of destination principle and the tariff structure in the simulcasting agreement", submitted on 5 November 2001. (27) See, for example, the Court judgments in Case 127/73 BRT v. SABAM; Joined cases 55/80 and 57/80 MV membran et K-tel International v. GEMA [1981] ECR 147; Case 7/82 GVL v. Commission; Joined cases C92/92 and C326/92 Phil Collins v. Imtrat and Patricia Im- und Export v. EMI, [1993] ECR I-5145. (28) See GVL v. Commission, paragraph 32, and BRT v. SABAM, point 23. (29) Article 7 reads: "During the experimental period the Contracting Parties shall undertake to use their best efforts to exchange information for which they may be asked for the purpose of this agreement concerning: - the license fees they apply to the simulcasts in their own territory, - the number and origin of hits of the Simulcaster's website licensed by the parties, - their repertoire." (30) Annex 11 to the application submitted on 16 November 2000. (31) See recitals 21, 22 and 23. (32) Number of users or intensity of use, see recital 25. (33) See recital 25. (34) Case 62/79, SA Compagnie Générale pour la diffusion de la télévision, Coditel, and others v Ciné Vog Films and others [1980] ECR 881, point 14. (35) Case 15/74, Centrafarm BV and Adriaan de Peijper v. Sterling Drug Inc [1974] ECR 1147, point. 7. (36) Joined cases 56/64 and 58/64, Établissements Consten SàRL and Grundig-Verkaufs-GmbH v. Commission, [1966] ECR English special Edition p.382. See also joined cases 55/80 and 57/80, Musik-Vertrieb membran GmbH et K-tel International v GEMA - Gesellschaft für musikalische Aufführungs- und mechanische Vervielfältigungsrechte, point 12, where the Court states that, in respect of Article 36 of the Treaty, "there is no reason to make a distinction between copyright and other industrial and commercial property rights". (37) See Section G, Third party observations. (38) Experience shows, for example in the field of central licensing agreements for mechanical reproduction rights, that differences in commercial terms are a crucial factor in the choice of a collecting society where the user has the possibility to choose the grantor-society from a number of different societies. In the field of mechanical rights, however, experience also shows that only large, multinational companies enter into central licensing agreements. (39) Case 395/87 Ministère Public v. Tournier, point 42. (40) See recital 8. (41) Case 26/76, Metro v. Commission, [1977] ECR 1875, paragraph 21; Case T-1/89, Rhône-Poulenc v. Commission [1991] ECR II-867, point 121; Case T-229/94 Deutsche Bahn AG v. Commission [1997] ECR II-1689, point 38. (42) Case 8/72 Cementhandelaren v. Commission [1972] ECR 977, point 21; Deutsche Bahn AG v. Commission, point 36. (43) Case 42/84 Remia BV and others v. Commission [1985] ECR 2545. (44) Joined cases 6/73 and 7/73, Istituto Chemioterapico Italiano Spa and Commercial Solvents Corporation v. Commission [1974] ECR 223. (45) Case 22/79 Greenwich Film Production v. SACEM and Société des Éditions Labrador [1979] ECR 3275; and Case 7/82, GVL v. Commission, point 38. (46) See recitals 41 to 44. (47) Guidelines on the applicability of Article 81 of the EC Treaty to horizontal cooperation agreements, Commission, point 3. (48) Guidelines on the applicability of Article 81 of the EC Treaty to horizontal cooperation agreements, Commission, points 11 and 18. (49) With the exceptions of France and Spain. (50) This consideration is valid for phonogram producers rights only. Simulcasters will still have to seek different licenses from different societies where different copyright or right-holder categories are at stake. (51) Guidelines on the applicability of Article 81 of the EC Treaty to horizontal co-operation agreements, Commission, points 11 and 18. (52) See recital 76. (53) On the link between high administrative costs and high level of royalties, see Case 395/87 Ministère Public v. Tournier, point 42. (54) However, the change introduced by the parties does not necessarily lead to a modification of the current arrangements between collecting societies and their members. (55) Case 62/79, SA Compagnie Générale pour la diffusion de la télévision, Coditel, and others v. Ciné Vog Films and others, point 14. (56) Case 62/79, SA Compagnie Générale pour la diffusion de la télévision, Coditel, and others v. Ciné Vog Films and others, point 13. (57) Case 62/79, SA Compagnie Générale pour la diffusion de la télévision, Coditel, and others v. Ciné Vog Films and others, point 12. (58) OJ L 336, 29.12.1999, p. 21. (59) Point 140. See also point 147. (60) See recital 3.
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