Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Meinekestrae 26
10719
""
Landgericht Mnchen I
Lenbachplatz 7
80316 Mnchen
PA PATENTANWALT/PATENT ATTORNEY
RA RECHTSANWALT/ATTORNEY AT LAW
Berlin,
EEPR60002
1623/10
In the matter
of Elvis Presley Enterprises LLC, 3734 Elvis Presley Blvd., Memphis, Tennessee 38116,
USA, a Limited Liability Company incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware,
represented by its Managing Member, the EPE Holding Corporation, in turn represented by its
m n c he n
b r e me n
- 27.640 -
b e r l in
ds s el do rf
f r an k f ur t
b i e l ef e ld
p ot s da m
k i el
h h e nk i r c h en
a l i ca nt e
p ar i s
sh an g h ai
BOEHMERT
Members of the Board Mr. Howard J. Tytel, Mr. Thomas P. Benson and Mr. Kraig Fox, 650
Madison Avenue, 16th Floor, New York, NY 10022, USA
- Plaintiff Legal representatives:
Law firm,
BOEHMERT & BOEHMERT,
Meinekestrae 26, 10719 Berlin
versus
Arista Music (formerly: BMG Music), a company incorporated under the laws of the State of
New York, represented by its Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Rolf Schmidt-Holtz, 550 Madison
Avenue # 6, New York, NY 10022, United States of America
- Defendant 1 -
company Sony Music Entertainment Germany GmbH, represented by its Managing Directors,
Mr Philip E. Ginthr and Mr. Edgar Berger, Balandtstrae 73, Haus 31, 81541 Mnchen,
Germany
- hereinafter: Defendant 2 -
and inform the Court that we will be filing the following motions in the oral hearing:
1.
2.
Reasoning
The Plaintiff, initially filed an Action against Defendant for payment, information and contractual amendment because the Plaintiff was of the opinion that it was at least entitled, under
32a German Copyright Act, to payment of equitable remuneration based on the exploitation
of audio recordings containing renditions of the performing artist, Elvis Presley, in Germany.
The Regional Court initially rejected the Action with a judgement of 23 November 2011.
Upon appeal of the Plaintiff, the Appeal Court of Munich then dismissed the claims for contractual amendment and payment, which had been calculated up to 31 December 2007, with a
partial and final judgement but ordered Defendant 1 to provide information for the period
from 1 April 2008. The asserted claim for contractual amendment for the period from 1 January 2008 was left open because it is in a graduated relationship to the asserted claim for information. This previous head of claim 3 corresponds, in respect of Defendant 1, to the now
asserted head of claim 1. Insofar as the Plaintiff additionally seeks special remuneration for
the public broadcast of audio recordings of Elvis Presley in Germany, the Appeal Court of
Munich dismissed the appeal. As the Appeal Court of Munich did not allow an appeal on
points of law, the Plaintiff filed a Complaint against the Denial of Leave to Appeal with the
German Federal Court of Justice. The German Federal Court of Justice dismissed the Complaint against the Denial of Leave to Appeal. The Plaintiff then filed a Constitutional Complaint; this is currently lodged with the German Federal Constitutional Court under case number 1 BvR 1998/14.
With its judgement of July 18, 2013, the Appeal Court of Munich took the opinion that Defendant 1 was only liable for the royalties which it received itself but that the equitable remu-
neration should not be calculated, in respect of Defendant 1, on the basis of the revenues
earned in Germany. Defendant 1 has since presented copies of the licensing agreements it has
concluded, in accordance with its obligation to disclose information set down in the judgement of the Appeal Court of Munich of July 18, 2013. From this, it follows that the exclusive
licensee on the German market for Defendant 1 is Defendant 2, against whom the Plaintiff is
now also taking action; this fact is firstly taken into account by the head of claim 1. The Plaintiff also deduced from the presented licensing agreements that Defendant 2 must also have
been the licensee in a prior licensing agreement and that it therefore must also have marketed
phonograms containing performances of Elvis Presley in Germany under license from Defendant 1 between 2005 and 2007. The Plaintiff is thus seeking equitable remuneration from Defendant 1, as per Sec. 32a German Copyright Act for the years 2005 to 2007. This is taken
into account in head of claim 2.
I.
1.
After the partial and final judgement of the Appeal Court of Munich of July 18, 2013
became legally binding, Defendant 1 initially provided information as to the extent to
which the music works performed by Elvis Presley and which were recorded onto
phonograms by the legal predecessor of Defendant 1, RCA Records, a Division of
RCA Corporation, up to February 28, 1973 inclusive, were exploited in Germany from
April 1, 2008 onwards. Within the information provided, Defendant 1 did not itemise
the individual recordings and their different versions as the judgement of the Appeal
Court of Munich of July 18, 2013 had stipulated. At least Defendant 1 did provide
more detailed information as to the individual phonograms on which the recordings
appeared as well as their titles. Furthermore, Defendant 1 itemised the sales achieved
in that way and also the revenues earned from digital exploitation. However, Defen-
dant 1 refused to specify cost factors and profits earned although that was also expressly required of it by the Appeal Court of Munich. Finally, essential information on
royalties for example from the use of recordings in film, television, advertising and
merchandising as well as all licensing agreements to be presented according to the operative provisions including names and addresses of licensors. In this context, Defendant 1 merely claimed that only 5 songs by Elvis had been used in four films - this
over a period of five years - which seems absolutely implausible. In respect of the obligation to provide information regarding remuneration for public broadcast, as ordered in the operative provisions, Defendant 1 claimed these can only be roughly estimated.
However, the Plaintiff will initially make do, without waiving its right to the claim for
information also claimed in the operative provisions, with the deficient information
provided by Defendant 1 because the Plaintiff is still able to calculate, according to the
current state of knowledge, a large part of the equitable remuneration it is due under
Sec. 32a German Copyright Act, on the basis of the information available.
2.
In the following lists contain the following abbreviations which we will explain here
for ease of understanding:
emerged that the figures clearly originate from the "Sony International Clearing
House" in the USA. The gist of the argument of Defendant 1, that it "had nothing to do
with" the earnings of Defendant 2, is thus simply false as it checks and controls the
billing process in the USA. We return to this point once more below. Furthermore,
there is a certain degree of probability that not all uses of recordings containing performances of Elvis Presley in Germany are covered by the information and that in fact
higher income was actually earned. The Plaintiff thus reserves the right to make a further motion to have the accuracy of the information sworn under oath.
3.
a)
b)
Phonograms
Year
"Net to owner"
(in US dollars)
2008
1,522,500.591
295,331.322
2009
1,071,232.00
211,615.00
2010
1,114,899.00
233,559.00
2011
776,579.00
153,741.00
2012
820,138.00
151,614.00
2013
688,167.00
121,254.00
Digital exploitation3
1
1st quarter, from old information (Exhibit K42): USD 409,161.59; 2nd to 4th quarters: USD
1,113,339.00.
2
1st quarter, from old information (Exhibit K42): USD 80,441.32; 2nd to 4th quarters: USD 214,890.00
c)
Year
Revenues
(in US dollars)
"Net to owner"
(in US dollars)
2008
92,888
26,473.00
2009
130,237
40,687.00
2010
147,360
47,156.00
2011
169,778
54,329.00
2012
191,129
58,922.00
2013
147,532
47,210.00
Year
Revenues
(in US dollars)
"Net to owner"
(in US dollars)
2008
15,970.93
11,978.20
2009
0.00
0.00
2010
17,127.18
12,845.38
2011
0.00
0.00
2012
10,789.39
8,092.04
2013
0.00
0.00
Other Income
d)
Evidence:
Year
Revenues
(in US dollars)
"Net to owner"
(in US dollars)
2008
8,000.00
5,200.00
2009
8,000.00
5,200.00
2010
8,000.00
5,200.00
2011
8,000.00
5,200.00
2012
8,000.00
5,200.00
2013
0.00
0.00
3.
Defendant 1 also presented two licensing agreements, after the information it provided, according to which the licensing relationship between Defendant 1 and Defendant 2 is apparently as follows:
a)
Evidence:
Email of the legal representatives of the Defendants of 9 December 2014, Exhibit K 66a;
Letter of the legal representatives of the Defendants of 16 December 2014, Exhibit K 66b;
Copy of the licensing agreement between the company, Sony
BMG Music Entertainment and Defendant 1 of 8 September
2005,
Exhibit K 67
b)
That company, Sony BMG Music Entertainment (today apparently Sony Music
Entertainment), passed the license "1 to 1" on to Defendant 2.
Evidence:
as above;
c)
aa)
bb)
cc)
4.
In its judgement of July 18, 2013, the Appeal Court of Munich set the level of equitable remuneration, which the Plaintiff is entitled to demand for the exploitation of the
singing performances of Elvis Presley on phonograms in Germany, as a percentage of
the revenues, namely 13% of the recommended retail price, just as the parties had already agreed in the Amendment Agreement (Exhibit K 32) in the version of the Audit
Settlement Agreement (Exhibit K 33) in respect of the exploitation of recordings re-
leased since 1 March 1973 (UA page 36; presumably, what is meant is the PPD).
However, it should be noted that the Plaintiff already submitted arguments on page 10
of its Reply Brief of 16 August 2011, even providing an expert opinion in support of
them, that it is standard practice in the case of licensing revenues for authors and performing artists that authors and performing artists have a 50% share of the royalties
earned. The Plaintiff then repeated in its writ of 30 September 2011, end of p. 22, top
of p. 23, that the equitable remuneration which the Plaintiff is entitled to seek is at
least 13% of the recommended retail price for phonogram sales and 50% of the royalties from third parties and revenues from broadcasting as the parties had also agreed in
the Amendment Agreement for the recordings falling under the Recording Agreement.
Defendant 1 did not counter these submissions. Only after the Plaintiff once more
specified, in its Reply to Appeal Response of 16 May 2012, that it is itself entitled to
half of those royalties, if the "Net to Owner" is applied, did Defendant 1 dispute those
submissions for the first time, with its Appeal Rejoinder of 8 August 2012, p. 15, albeit without substantiation. The judgement of the Appeal Court of Munich of July 18,
2013 does not address these submissions of the Plaintiff at all. At this point, we repeat,
for the sake of precaution, our already presented expert opinion in support of the fact
that it is standard practice in the case of licensing revenues for authors and performing
artists that authors and performing artists have a 50% share of the royalties earned and
that the equitable remuneration for performing artists of the status of Elvis Presley are
at a level of a 50% share also in respect of royalties which the record producer earns.
These also include revenues from digital exploitation because the Defendants do not
sell those files themselves rather they grant exploitation licences to third parties, for
example iTunes, Amazon.de or Spotify.
Evidence:
Expert opinion
5.
The Appeal Court of Munich also ruled in its judgement of July 18, 2013 that the full
amount of the remuneration which Elvis Presley received on the basis of the Buyout
Agreement (Exhibit K 29), namely USD 5,400,000.00, must be used as the basis and
the amounts which Colonel Parker and All Star Shows, which are both also contracting parties in the Buyout Agreement (Exhibit K 29), cannot be deducted because the
USD 2,900,000.00 which Colonel Parker and All Star Shows received on the basis of
the Buyout Agreement merely constituted a payment modality (UA p. 31). The Appeal
Court of Munich also ruled in its judgement that a share of 10% should be set for the
exploitation of the recordings of Elvis Presley in Germany, so it can be said that Elvis
Presley received, in 1973, a lump sum in the amount of USD 540,000.00 for the assignment of the exclusive exploitation rights to the legal predecessor of Defendant 1 in
Germany (UA p. 31).
6.
Phonogram recordings containing performances of Elvis Presley are and were protected in Germany as follows:
Year of release
Original term of
protection
(25 years) to end of
End of term of
protection after
1990 extension (50
years)
End of term of
protection after
2013 extension (70
years)
up to 1965
1990
2015
2035
1966
1991
2016
2036
1967
1992
2017
2037
1968
1993
2018
2038
1969
1994
2019
2039
1970
1995
2020
2040
1971
1996
2021
2041
1972
1997
2022
2042
1973
1998
2023
2043
This leads to an average remaining term of protection for the phonogram recordings
containing performances of Elvis Presley up to end of 2039. Computed backwards to
the time the Buyout Agreement was concluded in 1973, viewed retrospectively, the
phonogram recordings containing performances of Elvis Presley still had 66 years of
protection (remaining on average).
7.
Taking the assumption of the Appeal Court of Munich, in its judgement of July 18,
2013, that the part of the remuneration attributable to Germany which Elvis Presley
received from the Buyout Agreement was USD 540,000.00, it can be said that Elvis
Presley therefore received, for all performances released up to the conclusion of the
Buyout Agreement on February 28, 1973, a yearly sum, calculated on the basis of the
average remaining term of protection of 66 years, of USD 8,181,81 (540,000 / 66 =
8,181.81).
One can extrapolate from the dollar value from the year 1973 to produce inflation adjusted values for later years by using the calculation tool of the Federal Reserve Bank
of Minneapolis, "What is a dollar worth?". This calculation tool can be found at
www.minneapolisfed.org. The Plaintiff therefore extrapolated the dollar values accordingly, using the tool of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, thus arriving at
the following figures:
Year
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
8.
Extrapolated value
(in US dollars)
4.85
4.83
4.91
5.06
5.17
5.24
39,681.78
39,518.14
40,172.69
41,399.96
42,299.96
42,872.68
The following figures for equitable total remuneration have been calculated using the
information provided and represent what the Plaintiff would be entitled to for the exploitation of the singing performances of Elvis Presley in Germany based on a 13%
share of revenues on a PPD basis and 50% of royalties (digital and other):
a)
2008
aa)
USD 197,925.04
bb)
USD 46,444.00
cc)
USD 7,985.46
dd)
ee)
USD 256,354.50
ff)
actually received:
USD 39,681.78
gg)
Difference:
646 %
b)
c)
d)
2009
aa)
USD 139,260.16
bb)
USD 65,118.50
cc)
USD 0.00
dd)
USD 4,000.00
ee)
USD 208,378.66
ff)
actually received:
USD 39,518.14
gg)
Difference:
527 %
aa)
USD 144,936.87
bb)
USD 73,680.00
cc)
USD 8,563.59
dd)
USD 4,000.00
ee)
USD 231,180.46
ff)
actually received:
USD 40,172.69
gg)
Difference:
575 %
aa)
USD 100,955.27
bb)
USD 84,889.00
cc)
USD 0.00
dd)
USD 4,000.00
ee)
USD 189,844.27
ff)
actually received:
USD 41,399.96
gg)
Difference:
458 %
2010
2011
e)
f)
9.
2012
aa)
USD 106,617.94
bb)
USD 95,564.50
cc)
USD 5,394.70
dd)
USD 4,000.00
ee)
USD 211,577.14
ff)
actually received:
USD 42,299.96
gg)
Difference:
500 %
aa)
13% of 688,167.00 =
USD 89,461.71
bb)
USD 73,766.00
cc)
USD 0.00
dd)
ee)
USD 167,227.71
ff)
actually received:
USD 42,872.68
gg)
Difference:
390 %
2013
The equitable remuneration to which the Plaintiff is entitled for the exploitation of the
performances of Elvis Presley in Germany has to be divided between Defendant 1 and
Defendant 2, however, as, in the opinion of the Appeal Court of Munich in the judgement of July 18, 2013, in the case of claims based on Sec. 32 a German Copyright Act,
each exploiter is only liable for its own revenues (UA p. 35). The Plaintiff expressly
places the division of the equitable remuneration between the Defendants at the discretion of the Court. However, as the Plaintiff is only able to claim an equitable remuneration in the amount of 13% of the revenues earned from the use on the basis of PPD
and 50% of the royalties collected, the following division would, in the opinion of the
Plaintiff, appear to suggest itself:
a)
Main division
aa)
Defendant 1
bb)
2008:
2009:
2010:
2011:
2012:
2013:
Defendant 2
which the Plaintiff already has against Defendant 1, which the Plaintiff
is entitled to against Defendant 2, must be deducted so that the following picture emerges against Defendant 2:
b)
Year
Equitable total
remuneration
(in US dollars)
Equitable remuneration of
Defendant 1 (in
US dollars)
2008
256,354.50
169,491.26
86,863.24
2009
208,378.66
128,751.00
79,627.66
2010
231,180.46
149,380.19
81,800.27
2011
189,844.27
106,635.00
83,209.27
2012
211,577.14
111,914.02
99,663.12
2013
167,227.71
84,232.00
82,995.71
alternative division
If one were alternatively of the opinion that the Plaintiff is not entitled to 50%
of the royalties from Defendant 1 but merely 13% as the Appeal Court of Munich assumed in its judgement of July 18, 2013 - albeit whilst failing to take
into account the respective submissions of the Plaintiff - this would produce the
following division:
aa)
Defendant 1
bb)
2008:
2009:
2010:
2011:
2012:
2013:
Defendant 2
13% of the revenues earned on the basis of PPD or 50% of the royalties
received, taking into account the claims of the Plaintiff against Defendant 1:
Year
Equitable total
remuneration
(in US dollars)
Equitable remuneration of
Defendant 1 (in
US dollars)
2008
256,354.50
44,067.73
212,286.77
2009
208,378.66
33,475.26
174,903.40
2010
231,180.46
38,838.85
192,341.61
2011
189,844.27
27,725.10
162,119.17
2012
211,577.14
29,097.64
182,479.50
2013
167,227.71
21,900.32
145,327.38
10.
As emerged from the presentation of the licensing agreements by Defendant 1, Defendant 2 has clearly been a licensee of Defendant 1 for a long time. In this context, the
licensing agreement of January 23 2008 (Exhibit K 68), states that it takes precedence
over and replaces the preceding agreements (clause 12.2).
11.
2005:
USD 2,771,603.90
2006:
USD 2,857,278.68
2007:
USD 2,749,785.48
The Appeal Court of Munich arrived at the opinion in its judgement of July 18 2013,
that the exploitation of the performances of Elvis Presley on phonograms in Germany
in the period 2005 - 2007 had not led to a conspicuous disproportion in respect of Defendant 1 within the meaning of Sec. 32a German Copyright Act existed in respect of
the remuneration which Elvis Presley received from the Buyout Agreement, adjusted
to include only Germany. The Appeal Court of Munich came to this conclusion because it assumed that whilst the equitable remuneration should be set at 13% of the
revenues earned on the basis recommended retail price, as far as Defendant 1 was concerned, only 13% of the payments which it received from Germany could be used as a
basis (UA p. 34 et seq.).
12.
However, as far as Defendant 2 and the revenues it earned are concerned, a conspicuous disproportion very much does exist, which arises as follows:
a)
Year
2005
2006
2007
b)
Received for
Germany from
the Buyout
Agreement per
year (in US dollars)
8,181.81
8,181.81
8,181.81
Extrapolated value
(in US dollars)
4.40
4.54
4.67
39,999.96
37,145.42
38,209.05
aa)
2005
Revenue:
USD 2,771,603.90
of which 13%:
USD
360,308.51
actually received:
USD
35,999.96
Difference:
1,000%
bb)
2006
Revenue:
USD 2,857,278.68
of which 13%:
USD
371,446.23
actually received:
USD
37,145.42
Difference:
cc)
999%
2007
Revenue:
USD 2,749,785.48
of which 13%:
USD
357,472.11
actually received:
USD
38,209.05
Difference:
935%
II.
The Plaintiff is entitled to an additional equitable remuneration from Defendant 1 under Sec.
32a (1) German Copyright Act and from Defendant 2 under Sec. 32a (2) German Copyright
Act.
1.
According to Sec. 32a (1) German Copyright Act, the performing artist has a right to
an additional equitable participation if he or she has granted another an exploitation
right under conditions which lead to the agreed consideration being conspicuously dis-
proportionate, taking into account the entire relationship of the performing artist to the
other party, to the earnings and benefits derived from the exploitation of the recordings
containing his or her performances. According to Sec. 32a (2) Germany Copyright
Act, a third party is directly liable towards the performing artist, under the criteria of
paragraph (1), taking into account the contractual relationships in the licensing chain,
if the other party has transferred the exploitation right and the conspicuous disproportion arises from the earnings or benefits of those third parties.
a)
b)
The Appeal Court of Munich already found in its partial and final judgement of
July 18 2013 that the earnings of Defendant 1 which fall after the 1 January
2008, namely within the meaning of the Action, the "future" earnings do constitute, with
high probability
In our opinion, the Appeal Court of Munich did make an error when it stated
that in respect of Defendant 1 only an equitable remuneration of 13% of the
revenues earned by Defendant 1 itself, namely the royalties "Net to Owner",
which it received from its foreign subsidiary, should be taken as the basis and
not, as agreed in the Amendment Agreement in the version of the Audit Settlement Agreement, the earnings abroad, thus also in Germany, according to
the PPD. However, the Appeal Court has already previously established, in its
judgement of July 18, 2013, that the equitable remuneration amounted to 13%
of the sales revenues from the recordings falling under the Buyout Agreement
(UA p. 36). In the opinion of the Plaintiff, even if one follows the opinion of
the Appeal Court of Munich that in a corporate group, each company within it
is only liable for the revenues they earn individually (UA p. 35), the conspicuous disproportion between the remuneration actually received and the equitable
remuneration is established in the overall situation and not in respect of each
company within the corporate group. On the one side, a situation like the one at
hand, in which a parent company like Defendant 1 grants exploitation rights to
a foreign subsidiary like Defendant 2, not even directly but via an intermediary
company, and is then paid royalties in return for the exploitation, one can
hardly determine how the remuneration which the performing artist received
can be divided between parent company and subsidiary; ultimately, both parties are making use of the same exploitation rights in the same recordings. On
the other side, if one applied the remuneration received by the performing artist
in full both to the parent company and to the subsidiary and the compare the
income and benefits which only that party earned, there would be a risk that
clever contractual structures within the corporate group could be used to ensure, to the detriment of the performing artist, that a conspicuous disproportion
never arises, for example by granting the exploitation rights in the recordings
of the performing artist to not just one German subsidiary but to several (c.f.
Schricker/ Loewenheim/ Schricker/ Haedicke, Urheberrecht, Kommentar, 4th
Edition 2010, 32a marg. no. 33).
c)
Overall, the figures shown above are obtained, with differences between the
equitable remuneration and the actually paid remuneration of
390 % to 1,000 %,
thus between almost four times and ten times what the claim according to Sec.
32a German Copyright Act more than justifies. The claim then has to be divided between the Defendants because they are apparently not jointly and severally liable under Sec. 32a German Copyright Act. The Plaintiff assumes, in
respect of Defendant 1, that it is entitled to 50% of the royalties "Net to
Owner" and at least 13% thereof, as the Appeal Court of Munich assumed in its
judgement of July 18 2013. The claim in respect of Defendant 2 exists in the
amount of the (full) equitable remuneration on the basis of all revenues and
benefits which were achieved by Defendant 2 in Germany with the exploitation
of the recordings containing the performances of Elvis Presley, after deduction
of the payments which the Plaintiff is entitled to from Defendant 1.
d)
The Court might also look at and check once more the well-foundedness of our
claims: Defendants 1 and 2 earned revenues in their corporate group of at least
USD 12,684,121.05 from the recordings of Elvis Presley in the years 2002 to
2007 alone; in the years 2008 to 2013, a further 6,330,997.00 was added. At the
same time, Elvis Presley received an inflation adjusted remuneration for the
years 2002 - 2007 of just USD 213,136.14 on the basis of the Buyout Agreement; for the years 2008 - 2013, the remuneration received was also low, at just
USD 245,945.21. As there were at least 1,080 songs which were covered by the
Buyout Agreement, the sum per song per year which Elvis received for all exploitations in Germany was a ridiculous USD 35.42 (after adjustment for inflation!).
The Appeal Court incorrectly denied the existence of a conspicuous disproportion in respect of the payment for the past asserted by us, due to the fact that
the Court based its assessment on the wrong relevant time period (the Appeal
Court did not apply the remuneration received to the entire term of protection
but only to the period which had already elapsed; in that case, Elvis would not
have received any payment at all for the future. Ultimately, that method of calculation would be dependent on the arbitrary point in time when the Action
was instituted). The Court used the reasoning that only the internal revenues of
Defendant 1 should form the basis for any assessment. In contrast, if one looks
at the entire income, it becomes more than clear that the minimal percentage
share received by Elvis easily represents a conspicuous disproportion.
This can also be described in another way: The Defendants cannot escape a
claim under Sec. 32a German Copyright Act simply through clever distribution
of their income within their corporate group. As Defendant 1 - as shown above
- itself checks and controls the billing process, it should in fact be responsible
in full itself.
e)
Only after the oral hearing before the Appeal Court of Munich did the German
legislator implement Art. 3 of the Term of Protection Directive, through Sec.
79a German Copyright Act. According to that provision, in cases where lump
sum remuneration has been paid the performing artist is entitled to payment of
an additional remuneration for the years 51 to 70 of the term of protection, in
the amount of 20% of revenues from the record producer. The Court will have
to take this into account when determining the equitable remuneration, at least
from the 51st year of protection of the recordings containing the performances
of Elvis Presley in Germany. In this context, it will have to be decided whether
the legislator, through Art. 3 of the Term of Protection Directive and Sec. 79a
German Copyright Act has not also set the level of equitable remuneration for
the years up to the 50th year of protection and whether therefore 20% and not
13% would represent the equitable remuneration for that period.
2.
We assert the claim against Defendant 1 (=contracting partner of the Plaintiff) in the
form of a contractual amendment as provided for in Sec. 32a (1) German Copyright
Act, as already applied for in the oral hearing before the Appeal Court of Munich (UA
p. 20).
We also assert the claim against Defendant 2 in the form of a contractual structure
claim, as the other party is liable "in accordance with paragraph (1)". In this context, it
is acknowledged that a claim is for the conclusion of an agreement with the purpose of
granting an equitable remuneration (c.f. Dreier/ Schulze/ Schulze, UrhG, Kommentar,
4th Ed. 2013, 32a marg. no. 48). The Plaintiff cannot be secured for the future in any
other way, otherwise it would be forced to take action repeatedly against Defendant 2.
In this context, the Plaintiff is also entitled to assert a claim for equitable remuneration
against Defendant 2 for the years 2005 to 2007, as per Sec. 32a (2) German Copyright
Act, as it was only through the disclosure of Defendant 1 on 9 December 2014 that the
Plaintiff received the information as to who the licensee of Defendant 1 in Germany
even is; the licensing agreements were only presented with the letter of 18 December
2014.
3.
The claims for additional equitable participation against Defendant 1 are not statute
barred, according to the findings of the Appeal Court (UA p. 32).
4.
The Plaintiff is entitled to extend the Action against Defendant 2 under Sec. 263 German Code of Civil Procedure by way of amendment to the Action, as this is helpful to
the case at hand. This is because it concerns the same facts of the matter and companies within the same group are concerned.
In this context, we refer once more to our previous submissions, according to which it
has been decided in case law in comparable areas of law, namely employee invention
law, that claims for information and rendering of account exist directly against the
contracting partner even regarding income earned by other companies within the corporate group (Regional Court of Duesseldorf, judgement of June 18, 1991, 4 OAO
254/90). Thus, if a direct claim exists against Defendant 1, an assertion against Defendant 2 as the group company affected, is certainly helpful to the case.
Two certified and two simple copies are enclosed, as well as a check for deposit for additional
court costs due to the extension of claim for EUR 9,180.00.
Enclosures:
2 certified and 2 simple copies
Exhibits K 60 K 68
Check for deposit of EUR 9,180.00