Brussels, 09/12/2002 (Agence Europe) - Film directors are now considered as holders of the copyrights of films in all Member States, notes the Commission in a report on the implementation of the 1992 Directive on the Rental and Lending Right and certain Related Rights. It states that: "despite fears expressed by some Member States when Directive 92/100/EC was adopted, nothing proves that partial harmonisation of the notion of author has made exploitation of works more difficult or reduced the difficulty in combating the unauthorised use of works".
This directive, as well as the 1993 directive on satellite broadcasting and cable retransmission and on the harmonisation of the duration of the protection of copyrights and certain related rights, stipulates that that the main director of a film or audiovisual work is considered to be its author or one of its authors.
This provision has obliged the United Kingdom, Luxembourg and Ireland to amend their legislation, which granted ownership of the work to its producer. The producer and director are now considered as the primary holders of the copyright. In the other Member States where the copyright of the director was already recognised, the definition of authors is generally quite broad, and the allocation of rights is determined by contract. Spain, Italy and Portugal have a precise definition of authors. Germany and Austria, on the other hand, have a broad notion that includes the main producer as well as the director of photography, film editors and sound engineers. Denmark, Finland and Sweden "have no specific rule for determining the holder of a cinematographic or audiovisual work". France and Belgium "combine a general rule concerning the holder of cinematographic or audiovisual works with a list of people satisfying the demands of the holder".
The Commission thus says it is satisfied with the implementation of the directive. In principle, it should have handed in this report in 1997, but was delayed as "the directive was implemented at a late date, in fact too late, by many Member States", it defends itself. "We will continue to keep an eye on the situation to ensure that contractual arrangements over film rights do not hamper the internal market and that the rights of all parties are sufficiently protected", said Commissioner Frits Bolkestein, in a press release (the Commission's report is available on the Internet: http: //http://www.europ.eu.int/comm/internal_market/en/intprop/news/index.htm ).