Today, the European Court of Justice rendered an important judgment in the case of VHC 2 Seniorenresidenz (C 127/24): the retransmission of television and radio broadcasts received by satellite to the rooms of residents of a retirement home via an internal cable network does not constitute a ‘communication to the public’ as envisaged in the Copyright Directive.
The case had been brought by GEMA, the German music copyrights collecting society, against VHC 2, the operator of a retirement home. GEMA maintained that VHC 2 needed a licence for the retransmission of the TV and radio broadcasts to the rooms of residents. The German Bundesgerichtshof asked preliminary questions about this to the European Court of Justice.
The ECJ held that residents of a retirement home are not a new public, because they already belong to the public for whom the TV and radio broadcasts received by the retirement home are intended. Moreover, the broadcast is not transmitted via a different technical means and is therefore not a new disclosure; the ECJ concludes that no additional licence or payment is required. In the ECJ’s opinion, this prevents rightholders from receiving more compensation than they are entitled to by law.
This ruling of the ECJ confirms and adds nuance to the line from the 2012 ‘dental practice judgment’ (ECJ 15 March 2012, C 135/10, SCF / Marco Del Corso): only if an operator reaches a new public or uses an essentially different technical means, an independent obligation to pay for copyrights will arise.
You can read the judgment here and the English-language press release here.
