25.04.2023

In this case, two Romanian collective management organizations handling copyright and related rights over musical works brought actions against the air transport company Blue Air Aviation and the CFR, a Romanian rail transport company, seeking payment of remuneration still due and of penalties for the broadcasting, without a license, of musical works on board aircraft and passenger carriages.

The competent court of Bucharest asked the Court of Justice to identify in particular:

1. a) whether the broadcasting, inside a commercial aircraft occupied by passengers, of a musical work or a fragment of a musical work on take-off, on landing or at any time during a flight, via the aircraft’s public address system, constitutes a communication to the public; and
2. b) whether a rail carrier which uses train carriages in which sound systems intended for the communication of information to passengers are installed thereby makes a communication to the public.

The Court held that the broadcasting in a means of passenger transport of a musical work as background music constitutes a communication to the public within the meaning of EU law. The mere installation, on board a means of transport, of sound equipment and, where appropriate, of software enabling the broadcasting of background music does not, however, constitute one. Consequently, EU law precludes national legislation which establishes a rebuttable presumption that musical works are communicated to the public because of the presence of sound systems in means of transport.

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