South Africa Case Law

South Afican Music Performance Rights Association v Foschini Retail Group (Pty) Ltd (50/2015)

South Afican Music Performance Rights Association v Foschini Retail Group (Pty) Ltd (50/2015) [2015] ZASCA 188; [2016] 2 All SA 40 (SCA); 2015 BIP 424 (SCA) (30 November 2015)

Court

Supreme Court of Appeal

Case number

50/2015

Judges

Mpati, Mhlantla, Pillay, Swain, Zondi

The Supreme Court of Appeal held that the jurisdiction of the Copyright Tribunal is triggered by the absence of agreement between the user and the copyright owner regarding the royalty amount, not by the applicant proving the tariff is unreasonable. There is no legal onus on the applicant to prove unreasonableness; rather, the tribunal must be satisfied on all the evidence that the claim is well-founded. The court found that requiring retailers to lead evidence of the rand value derived from music was impractical and unnecessary. Sufficient evidence, including international benchmarking, was…

Source excerpt

• Copyright Royalties
• Collecting Societies
• Reasonable Tariff
• Copyright Act 1978
• Licence Scheme
• Comparative Benchmarking

National Association of Broadcasters v South African Music Performance Rights Association and Another (119/2013)

National Association of Broadcasters v South African Music Performance Rights Association and Another (119/2013) [2014] ZASCA 10; [2014] 2 All SA 263 (SCA); 2014 (3) SA 525 (SCA); 2014 BIP 405 (SCA) (14 March 2014)

Court

Supreme Court of Appeal

Case number

119/2013

Judges

Navsa, Shongwe, Swain, Legodi, Mathopo

The Supreme Court of Appeal replaced a Copyright Tribunal royalty formula for radio sound recordings with a 3% cap based on actual net broadcasting revenue.

• Copyright Royalties
• Collecting Societies
• Broadcasting Rights
• Copyright Tribunal Procedure
• Statutory Interpretation
• Copyright-royalties

Foschini Retail Group (Pty) (Ltd) and 9(Nine) Others v South African Music Performance Rights Association (0003/2009)

Foschini Retail Group (Pty) (Ltd) and 9(Nine) Others v South African Music Performance Rights Association (0003/2009) [2013] ZAGPPHC 304; 2013 BIP 368 (CT) (25 October 2013)

Court

North Gauteng High Court, Pretoria

Case number

0003/2009

Judge

A.M.L. Phatudi

The Tribunal set aside SAMPRA’s unilateral retail music tariff and replaced it with a lower tariff after finding the original tariff unreasonable and improperly set.

• Copyright Royalties
• Collecting Societies
• Tariff Setting
• Needletime Rights
• Public Performance
• Regulatory Compliance