News Trademarks, Domain Names, Copyright 2007

No more sanctions for omitted countermark SIAE?

European Court of Justice - Case C-20/05 - Opinion of Advocate General

The Court of Justice of the European Communities (by order of the Tribunale Civile e Penale di Forlì – Italy of 14 December 2004 for a preliminary ruling) is going to deliver a sentence dealing with the compulsoriness of the countermark SIAE [Società Italiana degli Autori ed Editori - Authors’ & Publishers’ Italian Society].

The countermark SIAE has been created in 1994 and so far it must be affixed to several intellectual works sold in Italy (CD, DVD, books, software, VHS, ecc…).

In the opinion of the Advocate General Verica Trstenjak the affixing of countermark SIAE on intellectual works is not compatible with:

- Council Directive 92/100/EEC on rental right and lending right and on certain rights related to copyright in the field of intellectual property;
- Articles 3 EC and 23 EC to 27 EC on free movements of goods;
- Council Directive 83/189/EEC and Council Directive 88/182/EEC laying down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical standards and regulations.

As a matter of fact if the European Court of Justice will confirm the opinion of Advocate General, the countermark SIAE will be no more compulsory and all the civil proceedings and prosecutions pending in Italy dealing with the matter should be dismissed.

We are waiting for the ECJ forthcoming sentence to up to date.

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