21st October 2024 |
Bills, RIAs
The purpose of this Bill is to address a gap in the Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000 (as amended) (the ‘Principal Act’) due to the incorrect transposition of an EU Copyright Directive, that is, the 2006/115/EC Rental and Lending Directive.
This gap was identified following a CJEU judgement in Case C-265/19, delivered in September 2020, and a subsequent High Court judgement, [2021] IEHC 22, delivered in February 2021. The case was essentially about the distribution of royalty payments, earned from users of recorded music, between music producers and performers.
This short Bill will ensure that Irish copyright legislation is:
- compliant with our international obligations, specifically the World Intellectual Property Organisation's Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT) and the Rome Convention
- compliant with EU law, that is, the Copyright 2006/115/EC Rental and Lending Directive will be correctly transposed
Specifically, the General Scheme for this Bill includes an amendment to section 287 of the Principal Act (definition of qualifying person). This will broaden its scope to include performers and producers who are nationals not only of Ireland and member states of the EEA, but also of all signatory countries of the WPPT and the Rome Convention.
It also includes an amendment to section 208 of the Principal Act (right to equitable remuneration for exploitation of sound recording). This specifically sets out the process that must be adhered to for the division of the royalty payment between performers and producers of recorded music.
These amendments will mean that the Copyright 2006/115/EC Rental and Lending Directive will be correctly transposed and Irish legislation will be compliant with EU law.
Topics:
Intellectual Property