British Broadcasting Corporation & Anor v Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society Ltd & Ors

British Broadcasting Corporation & Anor v Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society Ltd & Ors

The Copyright Tribunal does not have jurisdiction under section 126 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to set the terms of licences of foreign copyrights. However, the Tribunal may, in some circumstances, make an order in respect of the whole of a licence covering both UK and foreign copyrights where the licence is predominantly for UK copyrights and the foreign element is incidental or commercially indivisible. In the present case, the Tribunal would have had that power in respect of the BBC Agreement, but not in respect of the DVD Licence or the DTO Licence, which were predominantly licences of foreign copyrights.

Parties
Applicant/respondent: British Broadcasting Corporation; Applicant/respondent: BBC Worldwide Limited; Respondent/appellant: Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society Limited; Respondent/appellant: Performing Right Society Limited; Intervener/respondent: Sky UK Limited; Intervener: ITV Networks Limited
Jurisdiction
England and Wales
Judgment Date
06 November 2018
Procedural Posture
Appeal / Judgment on Appeal Against Preliminary Issue Decision of the Copyright Tribunal
Outcome
Appeal allowed in part
Legal Topics
Copyright Tribunal Jurisdiction, Licensing of Foreign Copyrights, Statutory Interpretation, Extraterritoriality, Collecting Societies
Intellectual Property Law Copyright Tribunal Jurisdiction Licensing of Foreign Copyrights Statutory Interpretation Extraterritoriality Collecting Societies

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Parties

British Broadcasting Corporation

Applicant/respondent

BBC Worldwide Limited

Applicant/respondent

Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society Limited

Respondent/appellant

Performing Right Society Limited

Respondent/appellant

Sky UK Limited

Intervener/respondent

ITV Networks Limited

Intervener

Procedural Posture

Appeal / Judgment on Appeal Against Preliminary Issue Decision of the Copyright Tribunal

Legal Issues

  1. 1 Whether the Copyright Tribunal has jurisdiction under section 126 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to set the terms of licences in so far as they concern copyrights subsisting under the laws of jurisdictions other than the United Kingdom

Ratio Decidendi

The Copyright Tribunal does not have jurisdiction under section 126 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to set the terms of licences of foreign copyrights. However, the Tribunal may, in some circumstances, make an order in respect of the whole of a licence covering both UK and foreign copyrights where the licence is predominantly for UK copyrights and the foreign element is incidental or commercially indivisible. In the present case, the Tribunal would have had that power in respect of the BBC Agreement, but not in respect of the DVD Licence or the DTO Licence, which were predominantly licences of foreign copyrights.

Court Disposition

Appeal allowed in part

Orders

  • The Tribunal's decision is set aside to the extent that it concluded it had jurisdiction to set the terms of the DVD Licence and the DTO Licence (save in so far as they relate to UK copyrights).