OSA wants to collect fees for all smartphones, even going back several years

The so-called substitute remuneration system, where a copyright fee is paid even for blank media, has been part of the Czech copyright law since 1990. However, according to a decree of the Ministry of Culture from 2006, an exception applies to mobile phones. And many importers are guided by this. According to the OSA, however, this exception must be interpreted in accordance with technological developments in such a way that it applies only to simple push-button telephones. The dispute thus ended up in court.

“Vodafone referred to the exemption for mobile phones. However, the Supreme Court stated that smart phones serve as a key tool for accessing music, films, and books and make it possible to make copies of these works for personal use. Therefore, the exception cannot apply to them,” OSA board chairman Roman Strejček told Novinkám.

Lawsuits regarding mobile phone fees have been going on for about ten years. Vodafone OSA sued in 2020. However, this dispute ended in the Supreme Court only this fall.

“OSA is not introducing a new fee. Replacement rewards are given for 35 years by the decree and the law of the European Union. The union only succeeded in the Supreme Court, which confirmed the authors’ claim to replacement remuneration from smart phones. Unlike other importers, however, Vodafone refused to pay the fees from mobile phones,” added Strejček.

In addition, the union would like to recover the fee retroactively. “OSA will initiate negotiations with importers who have not yet paid the compensation. We are not only concerned with straightening out the past, but setting up proper cooperation for the future,” added Strejček.

According to OSA, many of the importers have been paying this fee for many years. Fifty crowns for each gigabyte of capacity, but no more than CZK 90 per phone. However, about half of the companies still refuse to pay.

Currently, similar fees are levied on storage media such as external hard drives. For example, the fee for a DVD with the possibility of rewriting the content is five crowns, for a CD two crowns. For external hard drives, 15 halers are paid for each gigabyte of capacity. The same tariffs apply to flash drives and tablets, which according to OSA should also apply to smartphones.

“We believe that a technological change cannot by itself establish a legal obligation that is not imposed by law or other legal regulation. If smart mobile phones are to be charged, it should be done legislatively, not judicially,” said Vodafone spokesperson Ondřej Luštinec.

According to Novinek, the Ministry of Culture is distancing itself from the dispute for the time being. The next decision of the office regarding the retention or cancellation of the exemption will depend on the decision of the court. But that may take years. “Our company respects the judgment of the Supreme Court, even if its conclusion and reasoning surprised us. In any case, after many years, the proceedings are returning to the very beginning,” added Luštinec.

With its lawsuit, OSA demands that Vodafone provide it with information on the number of mobile phones sold, imported or received, that is, information on the facts decisive for the amount of the reward.

“According to our interpretation of the relevant legislation, which was also confirmed by the court of first instance and the court of appeal, mobile phones, including smartphones and their internal memory, are exempt from the obligation to pay replacement royalties,” added Luštinec.

The Czech Pirate Party is fundamentally against such a fee. “At a time when most people pay for streaming services, the idea that phones serve as a repository for illegal copies of music and movies is completely misguided. It’s not 2005 and no one carries MP3s with Michal David’s songs in their pockets anymore. Today, people pay for services that pay fees to authors, additional burden on end users is unacceptable,” said Pirátů vice-chairman Michal Bláha.

According to him, this step could lead to an increase in the price of mobile phones. According to the Pirates, if the fee were to be introduced, OSA could earn up to 225 million crowns a year with the amount of roughly 2.5 million smartphones sold. But the fees do not belong only to OSA. The stated amounts are divided among other collective managers on the market.

“It’s time for OSA to reevaluate its approach and stop considering every user as someone who keeps illegally downloaded content on their device,” said Zdeněk Hřib, president of Pirates.