Czech Republic: proposed amendment of Copyright Act

Czech Republic

Draft amendments to the Copyright Act have recently been submitted to Parliament to remedy two instances where the Czech law is not compliant with EU legislation:

  • making hotel operators liable once again to pay royalties in respect of TV sets in hotel bedrooms (this exemption was heavily criticised when first introduced in 2005 as clearly contrary to EU and domestic copyright law, as the ECJ later confirmed)
  • removing the requirement for collecting societies to be Czech-based in order to be active in the Czech Republic (again this was notified to the Czech Government by the EU Commission as being contrary to EU principles of freedom of establishment and freedom of service provision)

Law: draft amendment of sections 23 and 97 Copyright Act, no. 121/2000 Coll., as amended; SGAE v Rafael Hoteles, ECJ C-306/05