Operatori digitali e licenze collettive nella direttiva 2019/790/UE : le licenze ad effetto esteso

Collecting societies are licensing hubs which gather the copyright of a large number of rightholders, thus facilitating the clearing of copyright for digital users. However, not all rightholders mandate collecting societies for the administration of their rights. In some sectors of the market collective management is not common. Furthermore, even where collecting societies are present, some rightholders prefer to manage rights directly, with no collective intermediation. Directive 2014/26/EU aims at liberalizing the collective management market, providing authors with freedom of movement from one society to another and facilitating entry of new independent management entities. Therefore, the collective management scenario is still complex and digital users could face serious difficulties in identifying rightholders and in negotiating with managers of all the rights required. In this regard, art. 12 of directive 2019/790/EU introduces a system of extended collective licensing in EU copyright law. In other words, member States may provide that the licence concluded between a representative collective management organisation and a user could produce its effect not only for rightholders already represented by the organisation, but also for those who did not mandate the organisation concerned. The contract thus extends its effect beyond the limits of the repertoire of the organisation, granting a potentially complete licence. Art. 12 raises however several interpretative uncertainties, concerning, for example, the meaning of the word “representative” and the exclusion of independent entities from the scope of art. 12. The aim of this paper is to face these questions, taking also into account principles introduced in EU law by the previous 2014/26/EU directive on collective management of copyright.