COPYRIGHT AND NEIGHBOURING RIGHTS

Copyright – a new era for collective rights management
The rapid growth of the Internet and on-line commerce has brought to the fore – but not yet into clear focus – numerous issues surrounding intellectual property rights, piracy, security and digital rights management (DRM). IH&RA has long been concerned about copyright fees imposed unilaterally by national collecting bodies on live and recorded music in public areas and on radio and TV broadcasts in the guest bedroom. (See results of the IH&RA Survey of National Hotel & Restaurant Associations on Radio & Television in Hotel Bedrooms.) The hotel and restaurant sector is both one of the main contributors to the fees paid on copyright and neighbouring rights while also playing an important role in promoting the products of authors, artists and record companies to consumers.

Many instances of litigation between right holders and hospitality music-users revolve around whether the hotel guestroom should be considered a public or a private place. This debate stems from the fact that “communication to the public” is not very specifically defined in the Rome Convention, one of the two treaties relevant to the performance of recorded music in hotels and restaurants administered by World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

What are the on-going challenges?

• Is the guest bedroom considered a private or a public area by national law? This is a critical factor for establishing fees on the reception in these areas of radio & television programmes. (See Summary of EU Advocate General's opinion issued on 13 July 2006)
• How are the tariffs set for playing live and recorded music and for transmitting TV programmes in public areas of hotels and restaurants? Are criteria comparable from one country to another in the same geographical area?
• Proliferation of collecting societies : in many countries there are more than one, and often several, all making claims on hospitality operators
• Monopolistic position of these collecting societies: lack of transparency in the establishment of tariffs imposed unilaterally by national collecting bodies  

What are the new problems?

• Reception of pay TV and pay-per-view movies – should the hotel be charged both by cablenet companies and by collecting societies for the reception of these programmes (amounting to “double-dipping”)?
• Change from analog to digital transmission - why should hospitality operators be charged separately for analog and digital reception? The right is the same – only the mode of transmission has changed.
• Regulatory bodies forcing hotels to play unnecessary or unwanted channels .

What are the threats?

• Faced with piracy and file-sharing by millions of elusive individual consumers, the collecting societies are focusing on easily identifiable and accessible groups of rights users – specifically hotels and restaurants.
• Hospitality must not be taken as a “soft target” for levies designed to make up for the music industry’s losses elsewhere.
• Possible levying of a copyright fee for Internet use : this would apply to Internet access/reception in the guest bedroom (including cablecasting, webcasting and simulcasting) (see page on WIPO Issues)

Click here to the see the Generic list of issues.