A copyright milestone: TONO won against Riks TV in the Supreme Court

A unanimous Supreme Court ruling has ruled in favor of TONO in its lawsuit against RiksTV. TONO has been awarded legal costs totaling NOK 7,3 million. “The verdict is a copyright milestone with great significance for copyright holders, and not just in the music field,” says TONO CEO Cato Strøm.

The Supreme Court ruling states that Riks TV AS makes musical works managed by TONO available to the public under the Copyright Act. Riks TV thus has a responsibility to clear the performance rights with TONO, and thereby TONO's 32,000 members and the more than 2,5 million rights holders in other countries who are represented by TONO in Norwegian territory. TONO will follow up the ruling against RiksTV with a financial claim dating back to 2009.

– The verdict is a copyright milestone with great significance for copyright holders. TONO has now won the case in all three courts, and all judges have been unanimous. We are very relieved about a final decision on a long legal dispute that has cost a lot of money and where the verdict would have great significance for the interpretation of copyright in a new era and with new technological solutions, says Strøm, who believes the verdict will also have great interest beyond Norway's borders.

Technical solution not crucial
The unanimous verdict means that the Supreme Court has had no doubt about the result: Section 3 of the Copyright Act imposes an independent obligation on anyone who makes copyrighted material available to clear the performance with the copyright holder, and that this includes any form of making available.

– The Supreme Court states in the judgment that the technical solution is not decisive. Riks TV has an independent commercial role, and assembles a new audiovisual product in its channel packages, and receives payment for the content in the program-carrying signals. Riks TV thus makes the program content available to the public, and thus has an independent responsibility to clarify the use of copyrighted material. It appears to be well in line with the purpose according to Section 3 of the Copyright Act that the party making the content available has an independent duty to clarify, says Strøm.

Very resource-intensive legal process
It is a long and expensive legal dispute that has now been settled.

– It is thought-provoking and worrying that a legal dispute in the area of ​​copyright should cost more than seven million kroner, in addition to the many hundreds of hours we have spent internally at TONO on this case dating back to 2012. Few organizations would dare to enter into such a lawsuit when you know how much resources it will require in terms of both time and money. This worries me on behalf of the area of ​​copyright in general, says Strøm.

Read the judgment here (link to domstolk.no)

About TONO:
TONO is a non-profit cooperative, founded in 1928, owned and managed by its members: composers, lyricists and music publishers. TONO manages performance rights for musical works in Norway, and collects remuneration for their public performance. TONO represents more than 32,000 TONO members, as well as more than 2,5 million authors from other countries in the Norwegian territory through reciprocal agreements with sister societies worldwide. TONO's results for distribution are transferred to the rights holders in performed musical works. TONO facilitates the use of music in society, while at the same time providing music creators with a basis for constantly creating new musical works. For more info: www.tono.no

For more information
Cato Strøm, CEO, e-mail: cato.strom@tono.no, mobile: 922 16,319
Willy Martinsen, Communications Manager, email. Willy.martinsen@tono.no, mobile 909 65 254