Brussels, 18/06/2014 (Agence Europe) - In an opinion published on Wednesday 18 June in case C-463/10, European Court of Justice Advocate General Pedro Cruz Villalon says that the copyright fee levied under EU Directive 2001/29/EC on copyright in the information society can be levied on copies on mobile phone memory cards and that the distinction in Denmark between copyright fees due for mobile phones and MP3 players is incompatible with the directive's aims and would need to be properly justified by the Danish authorities.
The European Court of Justice has been sent a case over the Danish copyright fees agency demanding 14,827,000 Danish crowns in copyright fees from Nokia Denmark for copies made on mobile phone memory cards under Danish legislation. The European Court of Justice was asked whether the Danish law complies with the EU directive and whether the levying of a copyright fee on memory cards can be made an exception to the law (as occurs in Denmark for copies on MP3 players and iPods).
Cruz Villalon points out that, under European law, the ability of taking copies on a device is enough to justify charging copyright fees for private copies without having to prove that private users have actually made private copies in practice. Even though the main aim of memory cards is not making copies and, even if mobile phone users do not actually make any copies, the fact that it is possible to make copies is therefore enough to make it lawful to levy copyright fees.
On the exemption in Denmark for MP3 and iPods, the Advocate General says this does not make sense because copyright fees are levied on memory cards and therefore Danish legislation is incompatible with the aims of the directive (ensuring fair compensation without hindering the functioning of the single market for copyright holders to cover the potential losses due to reproduction of their work). He therefore urges the Danish court to examine the justifications (if any) for the exemption and to take action where necessary. (FG)