On Thursday 20 April, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that the broadcasting of a protected musical work for background music purposes in a means of passenger transport constitutes a communication to the public within the meaning of the directive (2001/29) on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and neighbouring rights (joined cases C-775/21 & C-826/21).
In Romania, the airline Blue Air and the rail transport company CFR are challenging the claim of two music copyright collective management organisations for payment of outstanding remuneration and penalties for the unlicensed broadcasting of musical works on board aircraft and in passenger cars.
In its judgment, the Court highlights that the Copyright Directive confers on authors the exclusive right to authorise or prohibit, on a preventive basis, any communication to the public of a protected musical work. According to the Court, the broadcasting of such a work for background music purposes by the operator of a means of passenger transport constitutes a communication to the public within the meaning of European legislation where that operator acts, in full knowledge of the consequences of their conduct, to give their customers access to a protected work. These customers would not be able to enjoy the protected work without this intervention and the work is broadcast simultaneously to all passengers.
On the other hand, the Court ruled that the mere provision of equipment on board a means of passenger transport for broadcasting a communication to the public does not in itself constitute a communication to the public within the meaning of EU law.
Consequently, the Copyright Directive precludes national legislation which establishes a presumption of communication of musical works to the public based on the mere presence of public address systems in means of passenger transport. Indeed, this regulation may lead to the payment of copyright remuneration in the absence of any act of communication to the public.
See the Court’s judgment: https://aeur.eu/f/6fe (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)