SAA welcomes CJEU ruling in VG Wort case
The ruling published on 27 June 2013 recognises that any device used as part of a reproduction process can be subject to a levy to compensate authors for the reproduction, without their authorisation, of their protected works.
The judgement (press release here) in the case, brought by SAA member VG Wort, underlined 3 key points:
- Countries that implement the reprography exception (included in the 2001 Copyright Directive) must guarantee fair compensation from anyone using a device that contributes to such reproduction.
- Acts of reproduction that may have been authorised by the rightholder still require fair compensation.
- The non-application of available technical protection measures does not mean that fair compensation is not due.
Although dealing with reprography, the judgement could have a significant impact on the development of private copying systems for new digital devices and potentially cloud services.
You can read VG Wort's press release here (and here in German).