TONO appeals the Borgarting Court of Appeal's judgment in the case between TONO and the Oslo Philharmonic to the Supreme Court.
/ 21/10/2022 / Willy MartinsenIn a ruling on September 19, Borgarting Court of Appeal rejected TONO's claim that the fact that the Oslo Philharmonic is mainly financed through state subsidies must be taken into account when determining a reasonable remuneration for the Oslo Philharmonic's performances of musical works that TONO manages.
TONO believes the verdict is wrong and has therefore appealed the case to the Supreme Court.
– We believe it is wrong that the state subsidy should not be taken into account when determining a reasonable remuneration for the Oslo Philharmonic's performances of works managed by TONO. We also believe that the Court of Appeal was wrong in finding that TONO's remuneration claim is not based on objective and non-discriminatory criteria, and look forward to hearing the appeal in the Supreme Court, says Karl Vestli, CEO of TONO.
The appeal was submitted on Thursday, October 20. The Supreme Court's appeal committee will decide before Christmas whether the case will be heard in the Supreme Court.
– The verdict in Borgarting Court of Appeal was surprising and disappointing. The composers should receive reasonable remuneration when the music is performed. If the verdict of the Court of Appeal were to stand, the composers would suffer damages. We therefore hope that the case will be taken up in the Supreme Court, and that we will get a different conclusion than the Borgarting Court of Appeal, says Jørgen Karlstrøm, Chairman of the Board of TONO.
TONO was founded in 1928 and is a non-profit cooperative owned and managed by authors (composers and lyricists) and music publishers, and on their behalf manages the economic copyrights in the music they have created. TONO grants permission for the use of protected music, for example on radio, TV, the internet, concerts and cinemas for a fee, and transfers its financial results each year to the rights holders in music that has been played publicly. TONO has more than 38,000 members in Norway, but also works for millions of authors and music publishers from around the world. TONO gives music creators an economic basis to create new music, and collects and simplifies the licensing of protected music to music users. TONO had a turnover of NOK 843,9 million in 2021
Karl Vestli, CEO of TONO, mob 932 56 020, karl.vestli (a) tono.no
Willy Martinsen, Communications Director at TONO, mob 909 65 254, willy.martinsen (a) tono.no