AMENDMENT TO THE COPYRIGHT LAW

#36Amendment to the Copyright Law

Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic has submitted an amendment to the Act No. 185/2015 Coll. Copyright Act as amended (hereinafter referred to only as the “Copyright Act”) for inter-ministerial consultations. The amendment is meant to implement two Directives of the European Parliament and of the Council into the legal order of the Slovak Republic.

The first directive is the Directive 2019/790 of the European Parliament and of the Council (Directive on copyright and related rights in the Digital Single Market and amending Directives 96/9/EC and 2001/29/EC). The primary objective of the stated Directive is to contribute to the improvement of the use of creative content in the digital environment. Following the directive, the Copyright Act amendment introduces the following: 

1. implemented measures to improve licensing practices
• - The principle of adequate and proportionate remuneration shall be applied in relation to license agreements. Meaning, when determining the remuneration of the authors and performing artists shall take full account of the actual or potential value of the rights. In practice, the author would first receive a fixed remuneration for the creation of the work and the additional remuneration would be paid on an on-going basis as a percentage of the licensees’ total turnover resulting from the license agreement;
2. exceptions and limitations to copyright
• - Exception for instance in the event of use of a work for the purpose of preserving cultural heritage;
3. minor amendments related to contracts and legal relations between licensors and licensees.

According to the first directive further is necessary to:

1. amend provisions to the existing regulation of out-of-commerce works;
2. create a new copyright for newspaper publishers;
3. introduce new obligations for providers of online content sharing services.

The second directive is the Directive 2019/789 of the European Parliament and of the Council (laying down rules on the exercise of copyright and related rights applicable to certain online transmissions of broadcasting organizations and retransmissions of television and radio programmes, and amending Council Directive 93/83/EEC ). It is meant to ensure the partial legislative harmonization of online broadcasting and retransmission. The implementation of the directive shall have a positive impact on the creative sector, it shall improve investment in new content and promote cultural diversity by broadcasting and retransmission of programs.

In accordance with the aforementioned directive, the amendment to the Copyright Act introduces country of origin principle in relation to complementary online services. The objective of this principle is to facilitate the cross-border provision of online services. The licensing agreements will be concluded in the member state of the broadcaster only and in other member states (where online services will be also available) the clarification of the rights will not be required again.

By the arrangement of “direct injection”, the directive regulates the transmission of programs, and the amendment will also affect the provisions on the collective licensing agreements and compulsory collectively managed rights.