As expected, now that most EU Member States have completed their own transpositions of the DSM Directive 2019/790, the time for litigation has come and, with that, referrals for a preliminary ruling to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).
After the first DSM Directive-related referral from Belgium on the provisions concerning contracts of authors and performers, it is now the turn of Article 15 (the related right for press publishers) as implemented into Italian law.
Together with Article 17, Article 15 was probably the most contentious of the provisions of the directive. It requires Member States to provide publishers of press publications established in the EU with the rights provided for in Article 2 and Article 3(2) of the InfoSoc Directive for the online use of their press publications by information society service providers (ISSPs).
The TAR Lazio has now decided to stay the proceedings and ask the CJEU to clarify if Article 15 of the DSM Directive prevents national legislations that provide for obligations of remuneration in addition to the exclusive rights granted under the EU provision;
- mandate ISSPs to:
- negotiate with press publishers,
- provide press publishers and AGCOM with information necessary to the determination of the reasonable remuneration, and
- not to limit the visibility of press publications pending the negotiation
- confer upon an administrative authority like AGCOM the powers that the Italian legislation has given it, including (a) supervision and sanctioning, (b) determination of the remuneration criteria, (c) lacking an agreement between the parties, the remuneration due.
The case is not yet available on the Curia website
Source: The IPKat
Author: Eleonora Rosati