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On 16 February 2012, the Court of Justice of the European Union delivered its preliminary ruling in the case of SABAM v. Netlog NV. The judgment was issued on a request made by the Court of First Instance of Brussels. In the main proceedings the Belgische Vereniging van Auteurs, Componisten en Uitgevers CVBA (‘SABAM’), a management company representing authors, composers and publishers of musical works, alleged that the hosting service offered by Netlog, a social network, enables its users to make works from SABAM’s repertoire available to the public. Consequently, other users of the network could...

On 12 August 2011, the commercial broadcaster VTM filed a complaint with Vlaamse Regulator voor de Media (Flemish Media Regulator - VRM), because the public broadcaster VRT offered the sports part of its news programme, including summaries of Jupiler Pro League (the Belgian national football league) on its website, Sporza.be. VRM ruled that this practice infringes Art. 124 para 4 Mediadecreet (Flemish Broadcasting Act). In June 2011, VTM bought the broadcasting rights of the Jupiler Pro League highlights for the 2011-2014 seasons. In order to guarantee the public’s right to information, the Flemish...

On 24 November 2011 the European Court of Justice delivered its long-awaited judgment on the legality of injunctions obliging ISPs to install filtering systems on their networks for reasons of copyright enforcement. The case involved a dispute between Scarlet Extended SA, an internet access provider operating in Belgium, and the Belgian collective management organisation Société d’Auteurs Belge - Belgische Auteurs Maatschappij (Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers - SABAM). SABAM initiated the proceedings alleging that Scarlet (formerly Tiscali) has knowingly permitted the illegal downloading...

The European Commission has requested Belgium and the UK to implement outstanding provisions of the EU’s Audiovisual Media Services (AVMS) Directive. The AVMS Directive aims at ensuring a single market and legal certainty for Europe’s TV and audiovisual industry. This is done through the creation of a level playing -field for both broadcast and on-demand audiovisual media services across borders, while ensuring cultural diversity, the protection of children and consumers, the safeguarding of media pluralism and combating racial and religious hatred. This Directive is based on the principle of the...

The purpose of the international tax credit instituted by the 2009 Budget and embodied in Art. 220 quaterdecies of the General Tax Code is to make it easier to shoot and manufacture in France cinematographic and audiovisual works originated by a non-French producer and containing elements that attach it to the culture, heritage or territory of France. Thus the tax credit is granted to a company that carries out the executive production of a work in France, subject to the company being approved by the national cinematographic centre (Centre National de la Cinématographie - CNC). The credit represents...