Legally binding and final approval table of fees for collecting societies for public replay

TKP is pleased to announce that on 6 October 2020, the Poznań Appeal Court gave a ruling approving in a legally binding and final manner the common tables of fees of seven collecting societies, among them the Polish Filmmakers Association, for public replay, including in hotels (case file I ACa 881/19). Public replay is one of the main fields of exploitation, on which there is large-scale use. The fee tables had already been approved by the Copyright Commission in 2013, but were then examined in a judicial review in two instances – by the Poznań Regional Court and Poznań Appeal Court. These courts found definitively that the rates in the tables were in line with the premises required under copyright law. Importantly, the approved fee rates are common to and standard for collecting societies active on the Polish market. Above all, this is a source of certainty for firms in the hotel business as to fee levels, as they will no longer be required to negotiate the fees with each collecting society individually. It is also an assurance for rightholders that they will receive the royalties they are entitled to from the firms that use their works.  

In addition, due to the current epidemic in Poland, under AntiCrisis Shield 1.0, collecting societies suspended collection of fees from hotels. Due to the situation in which firms in the hotel industry found themselves due to the Coronavirus epidemic, the Polish Filmmakers Association suspended collection of fees even before AntiCrisis Shield 1.0 took effect.

The lawyers at TKP handling the case were attorney-at-law Agnieszka Schoen and attorney-at-law Katarzyna Kosiba – Łuczak