The ECJ On Private Copy And Fair Compensation

On 27 June the European Court of Justice ("ECJ") issued its preliminary ruling in joined cases C-457/11 to C-460/11 requested from the German Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof) in national proceedings between VG Wort – the authorized copyright collecting society representing authors and publishers of literary works in Germany – and the well-known printer and personal computer manufacturers Kyocera, Epson, Xerox, Canon, Fujitsu and Hewlett-Packard (the "Companies").

In particular, in those proceedings, VG Wort sought a declaration that the Companies should pay a remuneration by way of a levy on printers, plotters and personal computers marketed in Germany between 2001 and 2007,  in light of art. 54a of the German Law on copyright, based on which "where the nature of a work makes it probable that it will be reproduced (...) by means of photocopying or by any process having similar effects, the author of the work shall be entitled to payment, from