{"id":3046,"date":"2020-02-06T16:49:56","date_gmt":"2020-02-06T16:49:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dekuzu.com\/en\/?p=3046"},"modified":"2020-02-10T07:38:54","modified_gmt":"2020-02-10T07:38:54","slug":"eu-broadcasters-copyright","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dekuzu.com\/en\/2020\/02\/eu-broadcasters-copyright.html","title":{"rendered":"EU illegal IPTV research \u2013 broadcasters\u2019 copyright"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Key Points<\/span><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Broadcasters\u2019 rights cover on-demand streaming but not necessarily live internet streaming.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Only seven Member States explicitly recognise broadcaster\u2019s rights in live internet streaming: Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Romania, Sweden and the UK.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Rights holders of works and other subject matter incorporated in TV broadcasts are protected against a wide range of potentially unauthorised acts, including cloud recording, internet retransmission, hyperlinking and indexation of TV broadcasts.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Sporting events as such are not eligible for copyright protection under EU law; however, audiovisual recording of sporting events and works included in such recording (e.g. sound recording, original music and graphic works) are likely to attract copyright under both EU and Member States\u2019 laws.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">TV broadcasts attract two distinct layers of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dekuzu.com\/en\/docs\/2019_Illegal_IPTV_in_the_European_Union_Full_en.pdf\">rights<\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">rights in the content incorporated in TV programmes, which may include copyright in protected subject matter such as literary, musical, artistic and cinematographic works, as well as related rights in sound recordings and performances;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">the broadcasting organisation\u2019s right in broadcasts, which applies to the programme-carrying signal as such, whether the signal is transmitted over the air, cable or satellite.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">These two layers of rights must be assessed separately, as they differ as to the conditions of subsistence, initial ownership and \u2014 more importantly \u2014 scope of application on the internet.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Copyright-protected subject matter under the acquis communautaire include any form of expression in the literary, scientific and artistic domain, including cinematographic works, photographs, computer programs and original databases. The CJEU has clarified that the sole criterion to determine the subsistence of copyright is the presence of elements that express the \u2018intellectual creation\u2019 of the author, i.e. elements that depend on the making of \u2018free and creative choices\u2019 in the production of the work. In this vein, the court has ruled that sporting events do not qualify as protectable subject matter within the meaning of the Information Society Directive, even though they may be protected by specific legislation of Member States.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">While sporting events as such do not attract copyright or related rights protection, the audiovisual recording of sporting events may receive protection insofar as it meets the requirement of originality. This is likely to occur insofar as the director is able to make \u2018free and creative choices\u2019 as to where to position the cameras and\/or to instruct the camera operators during the match to focus on specific sides of the pitch or moments of the game.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Similarly, other works and subject matter that are typically included in the recording and transmission of sporting events, such as opening sequence, background sound recording, original music and graphic works, may be copyright protected on their own merits. Although in principle any original expression can attract copyright under EU law, the court also found that the protectable subject matter must be a \u2018work\u2019, namely it must be \u2018expressed in a manner which makes it identifiable with sufficient precision and objectivity, even though [\u2026] not necessarily in permanent form\u2019. It is still an open question whether intellectual creations like TV formats meet this threshold and are protectable on their own.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Unlike copyright in works, the related right in broadcasts is not subject to the originality requirement under EU law and the conditions of subsistence is left to Member States. The right vests in the broadcasting organisation on transmission of the broadcast over the air, cable or satellite.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">The broadcasting organisation holds the right in the programme-carrying signal and is typically the licensee of the rights in the content incorporated in the programme. Such licences can be limited both territorially and as to the technical means of transmission, so that for instance a broadcasting organisation may be the exclusive licensee for cable transmission only in a given country.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">While the organisation can enforce its broadcast rights erga omnes in any available jurisdiction, the enforcement of rights in the content incorporated in the programme is limited by the scope of the licence. This point must be taken into due account when examining the available enforcement actions against unauthorised IPTV, as the broadcasters\u2019 rights on the internet are narrower in scope than the rights conferred on authors of original works.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Under the Information Society Directive, broadcasts attract rights which are narrower in scope than those pertaining to \u2018works\u2019. In particular, broadcasts do not attract the general right of communication to the public but only the (narrower) right of making available to the public of fixations of the broadcasts.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">While commentators and national courts have occasionally argued that the making available right may apply to both live and on-demand transmission on the internet, the CJEU clarified that \u2018making available\u2019 refers exclusively to \u2018interactive on-demand transmission\u2019 and does not extend to live streaming.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">The court held that EU law does not prevent Member States from extending the scope of the broadcasters\u2019 related rights beyond the acts envisaged in Article 8(3) of the Rental and lending Directive (namely: communications in public places upon payment of a fee), on the sole condition that these rights do not undermine the protection of copyright.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">This means that the broadcast signal may be protected at national level against a broader spectrum of activities, including most notably simultaneous retransmission via live internet streaming, providing that this extended protection leaves unaffected the ability of rights holders of the content incorporated in the broadcast to exploit the copyright in their works independently.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">The table below summarises the scope of protection available under EU law to broadcasters vis-\u00e0-vis internet streaming:<\/span><\/p>\n<table style=\"border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 33.3333%; text-align: center;\">\u00a0<\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 33.3333%; text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">On-demand streaming<\/span><\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 33.3333%; text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Live streaming<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 33.3333%; text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Content included in broadcast programmes<\/span><\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 33.3333%; text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Yes<\/span><\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 33.3333%; text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Yes<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"width: 33.3333%; text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Broadcasts\u2019 transmission<\/span><\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 33.3333%; text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Yes<\/span><\/td>\n<td style=\"width: 33.3333%; text-align: center;\">\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">No (but possible at Member <span style=\"font-weight: inherit;\">State\u2019s level)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">The CJEU ruled that the provision of an online service for remote recording of TV programmes constitutes \u2018communication to the public\u2019 under Article 3 of the Information Society Directive and is not exempted by the exception for private copying. Although the referral related to copyright in the broadcast content and did not raise explicitly a question on the broadcaster\u2019s related right, the decision of the court applies to both layers of rights, insofar as online video recording constitute an act of making available of fixations of broadcasts.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sporting events as such are not eligible for copyright protection under EU law; however, audiovisual recording of sporting events and works included in such recording (e.g. sound recording, original music and graphic works) are likely to attract copyright under both EU and Member States\u2019 laws<\/p>\n<div class=\"more-link-wrapper\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dekuzu.com\/en\/2020\/02\/eu-broadcasters-copyright.html\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">EU illegal IPTV research \u2013 broadcasters\u2019 copyright<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,8,33,5,29,25,11,6,4,39,18,27,36,13,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audio-visual","category-broadcasting","category-communication-to-the-public","category-copyright","category-digital","category-distribution","category-eu","category-intellectual-property","category-internet","category-interpretation","category-law","category-media","category-online-platforms","category-research","category-telecom","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dekuzu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dekuzu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dekuzu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dekuzu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dekuzu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3046"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.dekuzu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3046\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3128,"href":"https:\/\/www.dekuzu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3046\/revisions\/3128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dekuzu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dekuzu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dekuzu.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}