Hotels will no longer pay royalties?
On September 10 and 12, the Swiss Parliament will deal with the remaining differences in the revision of the Copyright Act (LDA). One of these is an idea that would put Swiss artists at a disadvantage in favor of hoteliers: hotels and vacation accommodation owners would be allowed to use protected works commercially without paying royalties.
Swiss artists may have to work for free in the future: hoteliers and owners of vacation rental properties would no longer pay copyright royalties even though they offer their guests films and music on in-room devices. Instead of being fairly remunerated for the commercial use of their works, musicians, filmmakers, actors and other cultural creators would be subsidizing the Swiss hotel industry through their work. The National Council will consider the issue on September 10. The Council of States had decided in spring 2019 that the idea should not be pursued.
A hard-won compromise is at stake
The proposal undermines the fragile compromise hard-fought in the Copyright Working Group (AGUR 12). The demand to exempt hoteliers (suddenly) arose at a very late stage in the revision process in the National Council. To facilitate the compromise, however, authors and rights holders had agreed to many concessions beforehand.
In December 2017, the Federal Supreme Court ruled that the broadcasting of radio and television programs in hotel rooms or rented vacation accommodation continues to be subject to licence fees when the hotelier or lessor of vacation accommodation provides the necessary equipment for this purpose, such as televisions or radios. As this service is billed to guests, it does not constitute private use.
International law would be violated: Swiss creators would be at a disadvantage
The new article added to the LDA would contravene the Berne Convention, a treaty designed to protect literary and artistic works. For this reason, the article could only be applied to Swiss cultural creators, if Switzerland wishes to continue respecting its international commitments. This would discriminate against Swiss artists: they would no longer receive any remuneration, but hotels would have to pay for the works of foreign artists. This regulation would also infringe other international agreements: the WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT) and the WTO TRIPS Agreement, which could lead to trade sanctions against Switzerland.
The cantons are not asking for anything similar
The article would also exempt hospitals and prisons from copyright remuneration. Cantonal prisons and hospitals have made no such claims. This proposal would therefore only serve to create an exception for the hotel industry. Cultural creation would suffer a loss of several million francs as a result of an exception sought by the private sector.
As representatives of cultural creators, the Swiss collecting societies of Swisscopyright (ProLitteris, SSA, SUISA, SUISSIMAGE and SWISSPERFORM) call on Parliament to respect the work and services of Swiss cultural creators and to reject the proposal. Together, they have written a open letter to Andreas Züllig, president of hotelleriesuisse, hotelier and PLR candidate for the National Council.
