Amazon (Amazon) The company suspects Austrian royalties on blank tapes (Leerkassettenvergütung) The collection system does not comply with EU law. Austria's highest court asked the European Court of Justice. now, The ruling on the case sets out a number of preconditions that apply across the European Union. Good news for the individual: When the royalty collection Association collects a lump sum royalty payment, If an individual "obvious (offenkundig) " No private copy was made, The association must refund the royalties.

Austrian blank tape royalties will be paid to specific storage media such as MP3 player, Mobile phone, Memory card or burned CD charge, The rights holder will be compensated for legal copying by private individuals. Germany has similar rules, A German royalty collecting association such as the Association for the Performance and Mechanical Reproduction of musical works (GEMA) Responsible for summarizing the lump sum of royalties collected from private copies (Urheberrechtspauschale) , And assign it to the author. Austrian companies can achieve tax rebates with some effort. But not individuals who made private copies, Austria's royalty collection association has so far run into a brick wall.

Contributed to the European Court ruling (number C-521/11: C-521/11C-521/11) Amazon and the Austrian Royalty Collection Association Austro Mechana A lawsuit between the two. Amazon offers to its Austrian customers CD with DVD Burn CD, Memory card and MP3 player, And the royalties have been paid in Germany. Austro Mechana from 2002 An additional fee is required from 2000, The total is about several million euros.

In order for royalties to remain permissible within a certain territory, The court's decision must be subject to certain conditions. That is, There must be simple and effective tax refund procedures, Axel the lawyer．Andr (Axel Anderl) explain. "For the royalty collection Society, Will face a barrage of criticism over the complexity of its tax refund system, And it's actually hard to argue with the legitimacy of the past. But in the future, This will surely be corrected. " Andre is Dorda Brugger Jordis From the firm's Vienna office IT And the head of intellectual property.

Suspicion that individuals have made private copies is generally allowed. Andr said, "The doubt must be refutable. In addition, The European Court of Justice has confirmed that it must also be possible to obtain tax rebates for private use. " But when exactly is a private copy not made "obvious" , The European Court did not give a definitive answer.

Half of Austrian blank tape royalties were never distributed to the rights holder, It goes to social and cultural institutions. This did not bother the European Court of Justice either-- "If these social and cultural institutions actually benefit the right holders, And their operating procedures are non-discriminatory, How to think about that is a matter for the Austrian Supreme Court. "

If the Austrian Supreme Court reaches a conclusion: Austria's royalty collection system has so far failed to meet the conditions set out by the European Court of Justice, Amazon may get away with paying extra. But once Austria had an effective tax refund procedure, And social and cultural institutions pledge not to discriminate against rights holders from outside the EU, The online retailer would then have to pay royalties for the blank tape once it arrived in Austria.

The European court's ruling could also have an impact on other legal proceedings: Austria's royalty collection association has been trying for years to apply the same fees to hard drives as blank tape royalties. Such requests have been rejected twice by Austria's highest court. The process of a third request was halted by the Supreme Court, To await a response from the European Court of Justice. (Compiled from heise. de)

(source: China Intellectual Property Protection Network)