Survey on the Protection of Audiovisual Performances in the Beijing Treaty, in the Legislations of the European Union, and Certain Member States of the EU and EEA

Abstract

The Ministry of Education and Culture gave in November 2013 the Finnish Copyright Society to undertake a set of studies for the development of copyright policy and legislation. This survey is part of this cooperation contract. The main part of the work was done in 2016. The survey provides an overview of the (related rights) protection of performing artists (actors, dancers, musicians) in the context of audiovisual productions, in cinematographic films and television. The survey focuses on the content of the Beijing Treaty on Audiovisual Performances (2012), Directives of the European Union, as well as the national legislations of a number of Member States of the European Union and the European Economic Area. The national legislation of the following 17 countries have been included in the survey: Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, as well as Austria, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, and United Kingdom. National copyright acts have been examined on the basis of the English translations, and when possible also on the basis of the original language versions of the acts. The authors have observed that the availability and being up-to-date, as well accuracy, of the national legislations and their translations varies considerably. The search and scrutiny of the texts increased the amount of work. This overview does not include any analysis of the history, application or details of the provisions, but a mere identification of the protective elements in the target texts, which is based on a prima facie interpretation of the provisions. The survey could act as a basis for a separate and deeper analytic study. The survey contains a short synthetic commentary on its subject matter, and a short analysis on the differences between the scope of protection in Denmark, Norway and Sweden, and in Finland