Higher Regional Court Munich retracts positive decision – continuation of the discrimination against performing artists and music producers
In August 2010, the Arbitration Board of the German Patent and Trademark Office (DPMA) had deemed it adequate to increase the tariff to 30% of the GEMA tariff - this had been confirmed by the Higher Regional Court Munich in September 2012. Both sides had, however, appealed this decision; GVL appealed because it was not understandable why the tariff for performing artists and producers of sound recordings should amount to less than a third of that paid to authors; The dance school associations appealed because they rejected any increase whatsoever.
"These decisions really came as a surprise. We do not see why performances of performing artists and producers of sound recordings which attract at least the same level of remuneration as that of authors in other areas should only be 1/5 in this case. The continuation of such a blatant discrimination against performers and producers of music compared to authors cannot be justified. We are waiting for the opinion of the court as we hope it will shed some light on this matter; only then will we decide on what the next steps should be," said the two managing directors of GVL, Guido Evers and Dr. Tilo Gerlach "We place our hope - and that of more than 140,000 of our rights holders - on the new Act on collective management organisations. The planned provision entails that negotiations for usages affecting the rights of several collective management organisations should be held jointly. This provides a prerequisite for a fair split between individual groups of rights holders on the one hand, and the determination of an adequate total charge for users on the other.
About GVL:
Those who render artistic performances or create the respective financial basis for the latter must receive money for the exploitation of their performances. GVL, the society for the administration of neighbouring rights, captures and manages such exploitations. GVL pays the fees it collects on a fiduciary basis e.g. from radio and TV stations and for the communication to the public (e.g. in restaurants or cafés) to its members in the form of a remuneration each year. More than 160,000 performers, producers of sound recordings and audiovisual recordings, music and music video clip producers as well as event organisers have placed their trust in GVL on a global level - and thus make GVL one of the biggest collective management organisations and music licensing companies for neighbouring rights in the world. Shareholders of GVL are the German Orchestra Association (DOV), the Federal Association of the Music Industry (BVMI), the Federal Acting Association (BFFS) and the Association of Independent Musicians and Music Companies e.V.(VUT).