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Marknadsetiska Rådet (The Council on Market Ethics - MER) is a self-regulatory board composed of several Swedish associations and companies. MER, whose statements are not legally binding, rules on good business practice. Recently it delivered a statement regarding a TV commercial that has caused debate within the advertising business. The issue concerns a TV commercial for the OLW Sverige AB company. In the commercial, a one-legged person asks a three-legged person if the latter wants to share. Bringing forward a packet of crisps the three-legged person then responds, “Av det här goda?” (approx....

ALIS, a Swedish collecting society, filed two lawsuits against the Mediearkivet (Media Archive) alleging that it was in breach of the Act on Copyright in Literary and Artistic Works when using articles not paid for. The Media Archive administrates an internet-based information database, where it sells subscriptions which enable the user to search among and use the articles available. The Media Archive responded by claiming that ALIS’s agreements with the rightsholders were a restraint of trade, according to Section 7 of the Swedish Competition Act, as well as of Article 81§3 of the EC Treaty. On...

In February 2007, Marknadsdomstolen (the Market Court) requested a preliminary ruling from the European Court of Justice in a dispute between, on the one hand, the private television channels Kanal 5 Ltd (Kanal 5) and TV 4 AB (TV 4) and, on the other hand, the collecting society Föreningen Svenska Tonsättares Internationella Musik Byrå (Swedish Performing Rights Society) (STIM). The procedure concerns the compensation that STIM requires from television channels so as to allow them access to copyright-protected music works from the repertoire administered by the organization. The private TV channels...

On 26 May 2008, the Kammarrätten i Stockholm (the Stockholm Administrative Court of Appeals) issued a judgment on a case involving the unlawful broadcasting of advertisements. The case concerned the application of provisions included in Radio-och TV-lagen (The Radio and TV Act – RTL). The RTL is based on the TWF Directive 89/552/ECC, as amended by Directive 97/36/EC. On 25 April 2006, the Swedish nationwide television channel TV4 broadcast an interview with the very famous, at least in Sweden, artist Carola Häggkvist. In the middle of the interview, a commercial break was inserted. The break was...

The Swedish Supreme Court has come to a spectacular decision on the infringement of moral rights. The Court found that commercial breaks during films on television constitute an infringement of the directors' moral rights and that the possibility of waiving these rights is limited. In the case at hand, two well known Swedish directors complained about the broadcasting of their respective films on TV4, where the films were interrupted with commercial breaks. TV4 is Sweden's largest commercial free TV channel. At first, the directors complained to the Swedish Broadcast Commission. The Commission,...