DIGITALEUROPE welcomes CJEU's ruling effectively outlawing ...

DIGITALEUROPE welcomes CJEU’s ruling effectively outlawing copyright levies on devices used for professional use across the EU BRUSSELS (September 22nd 2016) – In a landmark ruling today the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) made clear that the imposition of copyright levies on devices and storage media purchased for professional use is illegal in Europe. The EU’s highest court called for a clear exemption from copyright levies on business-to-business (b2b) sales of devices to be explicit in the national laws. This ruling deals specifically with the levies system in Italy. It states that the copyright levies system that has been in place there since 2009 is illegal and it implies that the Italian collecting society SIAE at the centre of the case may be obliged to reimburse millions of euros of levies it charged over the past seven years. Today’s judgement is the latest in a string of rulings that show that copyright levies cannot be imposed indiscriminately and that devices destined for professional use must be excluded from levies. The fact that it takes four rulings – Padawan, Amazon, Copydan and now the Nokia case – illustrates two things: first how ineffective current EU copyright law is and how urgent it is to address the levies problem in the latest attempt at reforming the laws that was unveiled last week. And second, it shows how over-eager collecting societies are to demand payments. “It’s a case of demand payment first and check the legality of their claims only when challenged later in court,” said Mr Higgins. He added that DIGITALEUROPE’s support for the CJEU ruling outlawing levies on devices destined for professional use in no way can be interpreted as an acceptance of current levies on devices for personal use. “We believe copyright levies should be scrapped altogether. The assumption of harm being caused to an artist through the private copying of music or other digital content from one device to another is fundamentally flawed,” he said. Last week DIGITALEUROPE criticised the European Commission’s proposal for a reform of EU copyright law, partly because it omitted the topic of levies entirely. “We believe it’s a huge missed opportunity to make Europe’s copyright law fit for the digital age. Unfortunately genuine reform of copyright may have to take the much slower path via CJEU case law, where politics and lobbying by powerful rights holders have less influence.” Mr Higgins said.

DIGITALEUROPE Rue de la Science, 14 - 1040 Brussels [Belgium] T. +32 (0) 2 609 53 10 F. +32 (0) 2 431 04 89 www.digitaleurope.org | [email protected] | @DIGITALEUROPE Transparency register member for the Commission: 64270747023-20

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Copyright levies are imposed on a range of devices and digital storage media including smart phones, printers, external hard drives and USB keys, whether consumers use those devices to store music, video or other copyright-protected content or not. In EU countries that allow the collection of copyright levies, consumers who bought a CD or downloaded an album legally are effectively made to pay twice or more times over for the same content when they buy digital devices. What is more, artists now have the digital means to license their works and get direct compensation from consumers, rendering the copyright levy system redundant. “Levies are a hangover from the analogue age. It’s time they were consigned to history,” said Mr Higgins.

-For more information please contact: Paul Meller, DIGITALEUROPE’s Director of Media Relations +32 497 322 966 or [email protected]


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ABOUT DIGITALEUROPE DIGITALEUROPE represents the digital technology industry in Europe. Our members include some of the world's largest IT, telecoms and consumer electronics companies and national associations from every part of Europe. DIGITALEUROPE wants European businesses and citizens to benefit fully from digital technologies and for Europe to grow, attract and sustain the world's best digital technology companies. DIGITALEUROPE ensures industry participation in the development and implementation of EU policies. DIGITALEUROPE’s members include 62 corporate members and 37 national trade associations from across Europe. Our website provides further information on our recent news and activities: http://www.digitaleurope.org

DIGITALEUROPE MEMBERSHIP Corporate Members Airbus, Amazon Web Services, AMD, Apple, BlackBerry, Bose, Brother, CA Technologies, Canon, Cisco, Dell, Dropbox, Epson, Ericsson, Fujitsu, Google, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Hitachi, HP Inc., Huawei, IBM, Ingram Micro, Intel, iQor, JVC Kenwood Group, Konica Minolta, Kyocera, Lenovo, Lexmark, LG Electronics, Loewe, Microsoft, Mitsubishi Electric Europe, Motorola Solutions, NEC, Nokia, Nvidia Ltd., Océ, Oki, Oracle, Panasonic Europe, Philips, Pioneer, Qualcomm, Ricoh Europe PLC, Samsung, SAP, SAS, Schneider Electric IT Corporation, Sharp Electronics, Siemens, Sony, Swatch Group, Technicolor, Texas Instruments, Toshiba, TP Vision, VMware, Western Digital, Xerox, Zebra Technologies, ZTE Corporation.

National Trade Associations Austria: IOÖ Belarus: INFOPARK Belgium: AGORIA Bulgaria: BAIT Cyprus: CITEA Denmark: DI Digital, IT-BRANCHEN Estonia: ITL Finland: FFTI France: AFNUM, Force Numérique, Tech in France

Germany: BITKOM, ZVEI Greece: SEPE Hungary: IVSZ Ireland: ICT IRELAND Italy: ANITEC Lithuania: INFOBALT Netherlands: Nederland ICT, FIAR Poland: KIGEIT, PIIT, ZIPSEE Portugal: AGEFE Romania: ANIS, APDETIC

Slovakia: ITAS Slovenia: GZS Spain: AMETIC Sweden: Foreningen Teknikföretagen i Sverige, IT&Telekomföretagen Switzerland: SWICO Turkey: Digital Turkey Platform, ECID Ukraine: IT UKRAINE United Kingdom: techUK


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