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PARALLEL TEXTS
Il Tribunale annulla parzialmente la decisione della Commissione che accerta la sussistenza di un’intesa tra le società di gestione collettiva dei diritti d’autore
Inglese tratto da:
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_CJE-13-43_en.htm
Italiano tratto da:
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_CJE-13-43_it.htm
Data documento: 12-04-2013
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The General Court partially annuls the Commission decision finding anti-competitive conduct on the part of copyright collecting societies
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Il Tribunale annulla parzialmente la decisione della Commissione che accerta la sussistenza di un’intesa tra le società di gestione collettiva dei diritti d’autore
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The International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC) is a non-profit non-governmental organisation which represents, in over a hundred countries, collecting societies managing copyright relating to, inter alia, musical works.
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La Confederazione internazionale delle società di autori e compositori (CISAC) è un’organizzazione non governativa senza scopo di lucro che rappresenta, in un centinaio di paesi, le società di gestione collettiva dei diritti d’autore relativi, segnatamente, alle opere musicali.
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The collecting societies acquire the management of those rights either by direct transfer from the authors or by transmission from another collecting society managing the same categories of rights in another country.
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Le società di gestione collettiva (SGC) acquisiscono la gestione di tali diritti o tramite cessione diretta da parte degli autori o per effetto di trasmissione da parte di un’altra SGC che gestisce le stesse categorie di diritti in un altro paese.
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They grant exploitation licences to commercial users, such as broadcasting undertakings or organisers of live shows.
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Esse concedono licenze di sfruttamento dei diritti agli utilizzatori commerciali - imprese di radiodiffusione o organizzatori di spettacoli.
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The prices of those licences are the source of the royalties that the authors receive, after the management expenses of those collecting societies have been deducted.
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I prezzi di tali licenze costituiscono la fonte delle royalties percepite dagli autori, al netto delle spese di gestione trattenute dalle società medesime.
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In 1936, CISAC drew up a model contract for reciprocal representation agreements between its members.
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La CISAC ha elaborato, nel 1936, un contratto tipo per gli accordi di rappresentanza reciproca tra i propri membri.
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That contract serves as a non-binding model for reciprocal representation agreements concluded between its members for the purposes of conferring licences covering public performance rights of musical works.
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Tale contratto tipo serve da modello non vincolante per gli accordi di rappresentanza reciproca conclusi tra i suoi membri ai fini della concessione di licenze aventi ad oggetto i diritti di esecuzione pubblica di opere musicali.
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Each collecting society agrees, reciprocally, to confer the rights over its repertoire to all of the other collecting societies for the purposes of their exploitation in the respective territories of those collecting societies.
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Ogni SGC si impegna, su un piano di reciprocità, a cedere i diritti relativi al proprio repertorio a tutte le altre SGC ai fini del suo sfruttamento sui rispettivi territori.
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Because of the network created by all of those reciprocal representation agreements, each collecting society can propose a worldwide portfolio of musical works to commercial users, but only for use in its own territory.
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Per effetto della rete creata dal complesso degli accordi di rappresentanza reciproca, ogni società può proporre agli utilizzatori commerciali un portafoglio mondiale di opere musicali, ma unicamente ai fini di un’utilizzazione sul proprio territorio.
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In 2000, RTL lodged a complaint with the Commission against a member of CISAC concerning its refusal to grant it a Community-wide licence for its music broadcasting activities.
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Nel 2000, la RTL ha presentato denuncia alla Commissione nei confronti di una società aderente alla CISAC lamentando il rifiuto, da parte della società medesima, di concederle, per le proprie attività di radiodiffusione musicale, una licenza su scala dell’Unione europea.
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In 2003, Music Choice Europe, which provides radio and television broadcasting services on the internet, lodged a second complaint against CISAC concerning its model contract.
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Nel 2003, la Music Choice Europe, che fornisce servizi di radiodiffusione e di televisione su Internet, ha presentato una seconda denuncia contro la CISAC avente ad oggetto il contratto tipo di quest’ultima.
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By its decision of 16 July 2008, the Commission prohibited 24 European collecting societies from restricting competition, in particular by limiting their ability to offer their services to authors and commercial users outside their domestic territory.
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Con decisione del 16 luglio 2008, la Commissione ha vietato a 24 SGC europee di restringere la concorrenza, in particolare limitando la loro capacità di offrire i propri servizi agli utilizzatori commerciali al di fuori dei rispettivi territori nazionali.
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The Commission decision, which concerns solely the exploitation of copyright via the internet, satellite and cable retransmission, does not call into question the very existence of reciprocal representation agreements.
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La decisione della Commissione, riguardante unicamente lo sfruttamento dei diritti d’autore via Internet, via satellite e attraverso ritrasmissione via cavo, non rimette in discussione l’esistenza stessa degli accordi di rappresentanza reciproca.
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It does, however, prohibit:
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Essa vieta tuttavia:
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- membership clauses: clauses in the model contract which restrict authors’ ability to affiliate freely to the collecting society of their choice;
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– le clausole di affiliazione: clausole ricalcate sul contratto tipo che restringono la capacità degli autori di affiliarsi liberamente alle SGC di loro scelta;
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- exclusivity clauses: clauses in the model contract which have the effect of providing all collecting societies, in the territory in which they are established, with absolute territorial protection vis-à-vis other collecting societies as regards the grant of licences to commercial users;
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– le clausole di esclusiva:clausole ricalcate sul contratto tipo aventi l’effetto di garantire a qualsiasi SGC, sul territorio in cui è stabilita, una protezione territoriale assoluta nei confronti delle altre SGC per quanto attiene alla concessione di licenze agli utilizzatori commerciali;
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- a concerted practice which was found to exist between the collecting societies and by which each collecting society limits, in the reciprocal representation agreements, the right to grant licences relating to its repertoire in the territory of another collecting society party to the agreement.
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– una pratica concordata di cui è stata accertata la sussistenza tra le SGC e con cui ogni società limita, negli accordi di rappresentanza reciproca, il diritto di concessione di licenze relative al proprio repertorio sul territorio dell’altra SGC contraente.
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The Commission did not impose fines on the collecting societies but did require that they remove the clauses in question from the model contract and bring an end to the concerted practice.
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La Commissione non ha inflitto ammende alle società, esigendo tuttavia che eliminassero le clausole in questione e ponessero termine a tale pratica concordata.
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Most of the collecting societies concerned and CISAC brought an action before the General Court of the European Union against the Commission’s decision.
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Avverso la decisione della Commissione la maggior parte delle società interessate e la CISAC hanno proposto ricorso dinanzi al Tribunale dell’Unione europea.
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By today’s judgments, the General Court annuls, for CISAC and for 20 of the collecting societies concerned, the Commission’s decision in respect of the finding of the concerted practice.
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Con le sentenze pronunciate in data odierna, il Tribunale annulla, nei confronti della CISAC e di 20 delle società interessate, la decisione della Commissione nella parte in cui accerta l’esistenza della pratica concordata.
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In that respect, the General Court considers that the Commission has not provided sufficient evidence.
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A tal riguardo, il Tribunale ritiene che la Commissione non abbia fornito prove sufficienti.
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The Commission, first, did not have documents proving the existence of concertation between the collecting societies as regards the territorial scope of the mandates which they grant each other and, secondly, did not render implausible the applicants’ explanation that the parallel conduct of the collecting societies at issue was not the result of concertation, but rather of the need to fight effectively against the unauthorised use of musical works.
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Infatti la Commissione, da un lato, essa non disponeva di documenti che comprovassero l’esistenza di una concertazione tra le SGC per quanto riguarda la portata territoriale dei mandati che dette società si conferivano, e, dall’altro, non ha confutato la plausibilità della tesi delle ricorrenti, secondo cui il comportamento parallelo delle società medesime non era frutto di concertazione, essendo invece dovuto alla necessità di lottare efficacemente contro le utilizzazioni non autorizzate delle opere musicali.
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The General Court rejected the applications in so far as they sought the annulment of the Commission decision in respect of the membership and exclusivity clauses.
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Il Tribunale respinge i invece ricorsi nei limiti in cui erano volti all’annullamento della decisione della Commissione nella parte riguardante le clausole di affiliazione e di esclusiva.
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As regards the Stim case, the General Court rejected all of the arguments put forward by that collecting society, which had not raised in sufficient time the issue of the lack of proof of the concerted practice.
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Per quanto attiene alla causa Stim, il Tribunale respinge tutti gli argomenti dedotti da tale società, la quale non aveva fatto valere in tempo utile l’assenza di prova della pratica concordata.
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NOTE:
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IMPORTANTE:
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An appeal, limited to points of law only, may be brought before the Court of Justice against the decision of the General Court within two months of notification of the decision.
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Contro la decisione del Tribunale, entro due mesi a decorrere dalla data della sua notifica, può essere proposta un'impugnazione, limitata alle questioni di diritto, dinanzi alla Corte.
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NOTE:
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IMPORTANTE:
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An action for annulment seeks the annulment of acts of the institutions of the European Union that are contrary to European Union law.
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Il ricorso di annullamento mira a far annullare atti delle istituzioni dell’Unione contrari al diritto dell’Unione.
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The Member States, the European institutions and individuals may, under certain conditions, bring an action for annulment before the Court of Justice or the General Court.
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A determinate condizioni, gli Stati membri, le istituzioni europee e i privati possono investire la Corte di giustizia o il Tribunale di un ricorso di annullamento.
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If the action is well founded, the act is annulled.
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Se il ricorso è fondato, l'atto viene annullato.
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The institution concerned must fill any legal vacuum created by the annulment of the act.
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L'istituzione interessata deve rimediare all’eventuale lacuna giuridica creata dall’annullamento dell’atto.
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LISTEN WITH READSPEAKER
The General Court partially annuls the Commission decision finding
anti-competitive conduct on the part of copyright collecting societies
The International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers
(CISAC) is a non-profit non-governmental organisation which represents, in over
a hundred countries, collecting societies managing copyright relating to, inter
alia, musical works.
The collecting societies acquire the management of those rights either
by direct transfer from the authors or by transmission from another collecting
society managing the same categories of rights in another country.
They grant exploitation licences to commercial users, such as
broadcasting undertakings or organisers of live shows.
The prices of those licences are the source of the royalties that the
authors receive, after the management expenses of those collecting societies
have been deducted.
In 1936, CISAC drew up a model contract for reciprocal representation
agreements between its members.
That contract serves as a non-binding model for reciprocal
representation agreements concluded between its members for the purposes of
conferring licences covering public performance rights of musical works.
Each collecting society agrees, reciprocally, to confer the rights over
its repertoire to all of the other collecting societies for the purposes of
their exploitation in the respective territories of those collecting societies.
Because of the network created by all of those reciprocal
representation agreements, each collecting society can propose a worldwide
portfolio of musical works to commercial users, but only for use in its own
territory.
In 2000, RTL lodged a complaint with the Commission against a member of
CISAC concerning its refusal to grant it a Community-wide licence for its music
broadcasting activities.
In 2003, Music Choice Europe, which provides radio and television
broadcasting services on the internet, lodged a second complaint against CISAC
concerning its model contract.
By its decision of 16 July 2008, the Commission prohibited 24 European
collecting societies from restricting competition, in particular by limiting
their ability to offer their services to authors and commercial users outside
their domestic territory.
The Commission decision, which concerns solely the exploitation of
copyright via the internet, satellite and cable retransmission, does not call
into question the very existence of reciprocal representation agreements.
It does, however, prohibit:
- membership clauses: clauses in the model contract which restrict
authors’ ability to affiliate freely to the collecting society of their choice;
- exclusivity clauses: clauses in the model contract which have the
effect of providing all collecting societies, in the territory in which they are
established, with absolute territorial protection vis-à-vis other collecting
societies as regards the grant of licences to commercial users;
- a concerted practice which was found to exist between the collecting
societies and by which each collecting society limits, in the reciprocal
representation agreements, the right to grant licences relating to its
repertoire in the territory of another collecting society party to the
agreement.
The Commission did not impose fines on the collecting societies but did
require that they remove the clauses in question from the model contract and
bring an end to the concerted practice.
Most of the collecting societies concerned and CISAC brought an action
before the General Court of the European Union against the Commission’s
decision.
By today’s judgments, the General Court annuls, for CISAC and for 20 of
the collecting societies concerned, the Commission’s decision in respect of the
finding of the concerted practice.
In that respect, the General Court considers that the Commission has
not provided sufficient evidence.
The Commission, first, did not have documents proving the existence of
concertation between the collecting societies as regards the territorial scope
of the mandates which they grant each other and, secondly, did not render
implausible the applicants’ explanation that the parallel conduct of the
collecting societies at issue was not the result of concertation, but rather of
the need to fight effectively against the unauthorised use of musical works.
The General Court rejected the applications in so far as they sought
the annulment of the Commission decision in respect of the membership and
exclusivity clauses.
As regards the Stim case, the General Court rejected all of the
arguments put forward by that collecting society, which had not raised in
sufficient time the issue of the lack of proof of the concerted practice.
NOTE:
An appeal, limited to points of law only, may be brought before the
Court of Justice against the decision of the General Court within two months of
notification of the decision.
NOTE:
An action for annulment seeks the annulment of acts of the institutions
of the European Union that are contrary to European Union law.
The Member States, the European institutions and individuals may, under
certain conditions, bring an action for annulment before the Court of Justice or
the General Court.
If the action is well founded, the act is annulled.
The institution concerned must fill any legal vacuum created by the
annulment of the act.
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