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At the beginning of 2005, the Austrian Ministry of Justice tabled a draft new Federal Act on copyright collecting societies. The law governing copyright collecting societies, which is mostly based on a 1936 Act, is thought to be confusing. Doubts have been raised over whether the supervisory bodies conform to the Constitution, while the monitoring of copyright collecting societies has been criticised as ineffective on several occasions. The new Act is meant to eliminate these problems. Under the draft, the rights and duties of copyright collecting societies, in relation to both copyright owners...

The European Court of Justice, ruling on an appeal, has confirmed the general principle that a refusal by the European Commission to bring proceedings against a Member State cannot be legally challenged. The background to the decision lies in the transfer of radio frequencies to Mobilkom Austria, which formerly had a monopoly on mobile telephony in Austria, when it was privatised in 1996. Austria's second GSM network operator, max.mobil (currently trading as T-Mobile Austria GmbH) had lodged a complaint with the Commission in 1997 asking for the allocation of frequencies to be reviewed. Max.mobil...

The Supreme Court (OGH) has clearly ruled (decision of 4 May 2004, 4 Ob 82/04v) that the "originating State" principle should extend to sound radio, although there is no explicit provision to this effect in either Community or Austrian law. The ruling is thus of interest to the media sector generally in relation to discussion of the Commission's proposal for a directive on services in the internal market (COM (2004) 2 final) (see IRIS 2005-4: 3). In the case before the court a private radio broadcaster established and transmitting in the Tyrol region of Austria had brought an action against a radio...

A new amendment to the Filmförderungsgesetz (Film Aid Act) entered into force in January 2005. Companies whose headquarters are not in Austria but in another EEA state are now entitled to state aid if they have a branch or office in Austria. The amendment should improve the internationalisation of the Austrian film industry in both production and marketing terms, as well as fostering more regular co-operation with other aid bodies in Austria and abroad. It facilitates access to aid for children's films, documentaries and young directors' films, which is granted in accordance with how successful...

In December 2004, the Austrian Verfassungsgerichtshof (Constitutional Court - VfGH ) decided not to allow a complaint from ATV-Privatfernseh GmbH (ATV) to have suspensive effect. As a result, Österreichische Rundfunk (the Austrian public service broadcaster - ORF) may continue broadcasting short reports about the Austrian Bundesliga football matches for the time being. ATV had complained about the decision of the Bundeskommunikationssenat (Federal Communications Office - BKS ), to allow ORF to broadcast a 90-second report on each matchday (see IRIS 2005-1: 7), and requested that the effect...