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ARTICLE · 05 AUGUST 2015

Advocate General Assesses Belgian Rules On Copyright Levy For Multifunctional Printers

Van Bael & Bellis
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On 11 June 2015, Advocate General Cruz Villalón delivered an opinion on a request for a preliminary ruling from the Brussels Court of Appeal in a case between Hewlett-Packard Belgium and Reprobel.

BelgiumIntellectual Property
Peter L'Ecluse
Peter L'Ecluse
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On 11 June 2015, Advocate General Cruz Villalón delivered an opinion on a request for a preliminary ruling from the Brussels Court of Appeal in a case between Hewlett-Packard Belgium ("HPB") and Reprobel (Case C‑572/13) with regard to the Belgian rules governing levies on multifunctional printing equipment.

Reprobel, a collecting society, had asked HPB to pay a levy for the sale of multifunction printers. Such a levy is due as fair compensation to authors for the copying of their work using the devices. Since Reprobel and HPB did not reach an agreement on the amount to be paid, HPB sued Reprobel so as to obtain legal certainty on the royalties due.

The case was brought before the Brussels Court of Appeal (the "Court") which referred four questions to the Court of Justice of the European Union (the "ECJ") for a preliminary ruling on the provisions of Directive 2001/29 EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2001 on the harmonisation of certain

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