Recital 43a

N/A

Recital 43a doesn't feature in the Commission's proposal.

Recital 43a

Articles 14 and 15

The obligations laid down in Articles 14 and 15 of this Directive should be of a mandatory nature and parties should not be able to derogate from these contractual provisions, whether included in the contracts between authors, performers and their contractual counterparts or in agreements between those counterparts and third parties such as non-disclosure agreements. As a consequence, the rules set out in Article 3(4) of the Regulation (EC) No 593/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council¹³ should apply to the effect that where all other elements relevant to the situation at the time of the choice are located in one or more Member States, the parties’ choice of applicable law other than that of a Member State shall not prejudice the application of Articles 14 and 15, as implemented in the Member State of the forum.

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¹³ Regulation (EC) No 593/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 June 2008 on the law applicable to contractual obligations (Rome I) (OJ L 177, 4.7.2008, p. 6–16)

Recital 43a

N/A

Recital 43a doesn't feature in the Commission's proposal.

Recital 43a

Articles 14 and 15

The obligations laid down in Articles 14 and 15 of this Directive should be of a mandatory nature and parties should not be able to derogate from these contractual provisions, whether included in the contracts between authors, performers and their contractual counterparts or in agreements between those counterparts and third parties such as non-disclosure agreements. As a consequence, the rules set out in Article 3(4) of the Regulation (EC) No 593/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council¹³ should apply to the effect that where all other elements relevant to the situation at the time of the choice are located in one or more Member States, the parties’ choice of applicable law other than that of a Member State shall not prejudice the application of Articles 14 and 15, as implemented in the Member State of the forum.

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¹³ Regulation (EC) No 593/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 June 2008 on the law applicable to contractual obligations (Rome I) (OJ L 177, 4.7.2008, p. 6–16)

Recital 43a (new)

Right of revocation

When authors and performers license or transfer their rights, they expect their work or performance to be exploited. However, it happens that works or performances that have been licensed or transferred are not exploited at all.

When these rights have been transferred on an exclusive basis, authors and performers cannot turn to another partner to exploit their work. In such a case, and after a reasonable period of time has lapsed, authors and performers should have a right of revocation allowing them to transfer or license their right to another person.

Revocation should also be possible when the transferee or licensee has not complied with his or her reporting/transparency obligation provided for in Article 14 of this Directive. The revocation should only be considered after all the steps of alternative dispute resolution have been completed, particularly with regard to reporting.

As exploitation of works can vary depending on the sectors, specific provisions could be taken at national level in order to take into account the specificities of the sectors, such as the audiovisual sector, or of the works and the anticipated exploitation periods, notably providing for time limits for the right of revocation.

In order to prevent abuses and take into account that a certain amount of time is needed before a work is actually exploited, authors and performers should be able to exercise the right of revocation only after a certain period of time following the conclusion of the license or of the transfer agreement.

National law should regulate the exercise of the right of revocation in the case of works involving a plurality of authors or performers, taking into account the relative importance of the individual contributions.