Court of Justice (Fourth Chamber) 11 December 2008, C-52/07 (Kanal 5 Ltd and TV 4 AB v Föreningen Svenska Tonsättares Internationella Musikbyrå (STIM) upa.)

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In preliminary reference proceedings concerning the compatibility of copyright licensing models with Article 82 EC, commercial broadcasters challenged the royalty model applied by a dominant copyright management organisation calculating fees as a proportion of channel revenue and music broadcast. The Court of Justice ruled that a dominant copyright management organisation does not abuse its dominant position by calculating royalties partly on the basis of commercial channels' revenue—provided it is proportionate overall to the quantity of protected works broadcast or likely to be broadcast—unless an alternative method exists that identifies works and audiences more precisely without disproportionately increasing contract management and supervision costs. The Court further ruled that applying different royalty calculation methods to commercial broadcasters and public service undertakings may constitute an abuse if dissimilar conditions are applied to equivalent services, placing parties at a competitive disadvantage, unless objectively justified.AI