The CEU Court of Justice (ECJ) has once again ruled against the digital levy imposed by Spain to compensate copyright owners for private copies. Although the previous tax on digital reproduction devices and supports was annulled by the Spanish government in 2012, to be replaced by a system whereby copyright holders received “fair compensation” direct from public budgets, the ECJ has now ruled the system to be contrary to EU law because it fails to distinguish between private citizens and businesses. The scheme does not “guarantee that the cost of the fair compensation is ultimately borne by the users of private copies,” said the ECJ in its ruling. Spain's Supreme Court had asked the ECJ for its opinion after intellectual property rights collecting societies asked for the Spanish system to be abolished.
The decision was welcomed by collecting societies including Egeda, DAMA and Vegap, as well as by Spanish intellectual property rights association ADEPI and DigitalEurope. “This ruling is a victory for common sense and a body blow to those whose main occupation is to sustain an outdated, costly, untransparent and inefficient copyright compensation mechanism,” said DigitalEurope director general John Higgins.
The ECJ’s ruling follows a number of decisions that also undermine the legal suitability of the levies system and comes ahead of a major reform of Europe’s copyright system due in the autumn, which aims to create a harmonised copyright environment suited to the digital age.
