Rental Directive

This article's factual accuracy may be compromised due to out-of-date information. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (November 2010)

Directive 92/100/EEC is a

This list is limitative: Portugal has been censured by the European Court of Justice for creating a lending and rental right in favor of videogame producers, as this annulled the exclusive nature of the rights of film producers.^[1]

The rental and lending right may be transferred, and is presumed to be transferred in film production contracts unless they contain provisions to the contrary [Art. 2(5)]: Member States may extend the presumption to authors and performers. However, even once the rental and lending right is transferred, the author or performer retains an inalienable and unaidable right to equitable compensation for the rental and lending of their works: this compensation is administered by the

Member States may allow a derogation for public lending (i.e. public

Several countries already had Public Lending Right systems. However, the European Commission pointed out in a report in 2002^[1] that many of these PLR systems failed to correctly implement the directive.

Related rights

The Directive sets out the minimum rights which Member States must accord to performers, phonogram and film producers and broadcasting organizations (related rights), based closely on the provisions of the Rome Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organizations.^[4] The preamble is clear (para. 20) that Member States may go beyond this minimum protection if they so wish. The fixation right (Art. 6) for performers with respect to their performances and broadcasting organizations with respect to their broadcasts is the exclusive right to authorize or prohibit recording. The reproduction right (Art. 7) is the exclusive right to authorize or prohibit reproduction:

• for performers, of fixations of their performances,
• for phonogram producers, of their phonograms,
• for producers of the first fixations of films, in respect of the original and copies of their films, and
• for broadcasting organizations, of fixations of their broadcasts.

The distribution right (Art. 9) is the exclusive right to make available to the public, for sale or otherwise, subject to the first-sale doctrine:

• for performers, in respect of fixations of their performances,
• for phonogram producers, in respect of their phonograms,
• for producers of the first fixations of films, in respect of the original and copies of their films,
• for broadcasting organizations, in respect of fixations of their broadcasts.

The fixation right, by its nature, is personal: the reproduction and distribution rights may be transferred, assigned or licensed.

Performers have the exclusive right to authorize or prohibit the broadcasting of their live performances, but not of recordings nor of rebroadcasts [Art. 8(1)]. Broadcasting organizations have the exclusive right to authorize or prohibit the rebroadcasting of their broadcasts "by wireless means",^[5] and the communication of their broadcasts to the public in places which charge an entrance fee [Art. 8(3)]. Phonogram producers have the right to an equitable remuneration (which may be fixed by agreement or regulation) if their published recordings are broadcast or played in public: this royalty is shared with the performers [Art. 8(2)].

The limitations on related rights are of the same nature as limitations on copyright. Four possible limitations are explicitly mentioned in Article 10:^[6]

• private use;
• use of short excerpts in connection with the reporting of current events;
• ephemeral fixation by a broadcasting organization by means of its own facilities and for its own broadcasts;
• use solely for the purposes of teaching or scientific research.

This article is an almost verbatim copy of Article 15 of the Rome Convention.

Duration

The Directive originally fixed minimum periods of protection for the

which fixed the protection periods across the EU and repealed these two articles.

Rights	Directive 92/100/EEC minimum	Directive 93/98/EEC harmonized
Authors' rights	50 years from the death of the author	70 years from the death of the author
Related rights (of performers, phonogram producers and broadcasting organisations)	20 years from the date of fixation, performance or broadcast	50 years from the date of publication or broadcast, or from the date of fixation, performance in the case of unpublished works

Implementation

Implementation of the Directive by Member States
	Austria	Urheberrechtsgesetznovelle 1993, BGBl. No. 93/1993, p. 1166
	Belgium	Loi relative au droit d'auteur et aux droits voisins du 30 juin 1994
	Bulgaria	unknown
	Cyprus	unknown
	Czech Republic	Law No. 121/2000 Coll. of 7 April 2000 on Copyright, Rights Related to Copyright and on the Amendment of Certain Laws
	Denmark	Act No. 706 of 1998-09-29 Act No. 21 of 2000-01-11 Executive Order of 2000-03-29
	Estonia	unknown
	Finland	Act No. 446/1995 Act No. 967/1997
	France	Loi No. 92-597 du 1er juillet 1992, JORF No. 153 du 3 juillet 1992
	Germany	Act of 1995-06-23, BGB1 I p. 842
	Greece	Law No. 2121/93, Official Journal A No. 25
	Hungary	unknown
	Ireland	unknown
	Italy	Decree No. 685 of 1994-11-16, GU Gen. No. 293 of 1994-12-16 Decree No. 204 of 1996
	Latvia	Autortiesību likums (2000-04-06)
	Lithuania	Autorių teisių ir gretutinių teisių įstatimas N. VIII-1185 (1999-05-18)
	Luxembourg	Loi du 18 avril 2001, Mémorial A No. 50 du 30 avril 2001, p. 1042[9]
	Malta	Copyright Act, 2000
	Netherlands	Wet van 21 December 1995, Stb. JS-1995, p. 653
	Poland	unknown
	Portugal	Decreto-Lei n. 332/97, de 20 de Novembro de 1994
	Romania	unknown
	Slovakia	Copyright Act of 2003-12-04 (No. 618/1997 Zb.)
	Slovenia	Zakon o avtorskih in sorodnih pravicah (1995-03-30)
	Spain	Ley 43/1994, de 30 de diciembre, de incorporación al Derecho español de la Directiva 92/100/CEE, de 19 de noviembre, sobre derechos de alquiler y préstamo y otros derechos afines a los derechos de autor en el ámbito de la propiedad intelectual
	Sweden	Act 1997:309 of 1997-06-13
	United Kingdom	Public Lending Right Act 1979 Copyright and Related Rights Regulations 1996 No. 2967

See also

• Copyright law of the European Union
• Bootleg recording
• Broadcast piracy

References

1. ^ Commission of the European Communities v Portuguese Republic (Case C-61/05), Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 2006-07-13.
2. ^ Commission of the European Communities v Portuguese Republic (Case C-53/05), OJ no. C212 of 2006-09-02, p. 7.
3. ^ Commission of the European Communities v Kingdom of Belgium (Case C-433/02), OJ no. C289 of 2003-11-29, p. 10; ECR (2003) I-12191.
4. ^ Rome Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organizations
5. ^ Rebroadcasting by cable distribution is regulated by the Directive on the co-ordination of certain rules concerning copyright and rights related to copyright applicable to satellite broadcasting and cable retransmission (93/83/EEC), OJ no. L248 of 1993-10-06, p. 15.
6. Directive on the harmonization of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society
   (2001/29/EC), OJ no. L167 of 2001-06-22, p. 10, corrected by OJ no. L006 of 2002-01-10, p. 70.
7. ^ Council Directive 93/98/EEC of 29 October 1993 harmonizing the term of protection of copyright and certain related rights, OJ no. L290 of 1993-11-24, p. 9.
8. ^ Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (Paris Act), as amended on 1979-09-28.
9. ^ Luxembourg has also been censured by the European Court of Justice for its implementation of the public lending right: Commission of the European Communities v Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (Case C-180/05) OJ no. C143 of 2006-06-17, p. 20.