15.10.2005   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 257/3

Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Audiencia Provincial de Barcelona (Spain) by order of that court of 7 June 2005 in Sociedad General de Autores y Editores de España (SGAE) v Rafael Hoteles SL

(Case C-306/05)

(2005/C 257/05)

Language of the case: Spanish

Reference has been made to the Court of Justice of the European Communities by order of the Audiencia Provincial de Barcelona (Provincial High Court, Barcelona) (Spain) of 7 June 2005, received at the Court Registry on 3 August 2005, for a preliminary ruling in the proceedings between Sociedad General de Autores y Editores de España (SGAE) and Rafael Hoteles SL on the following questions:

1.

Does the installation in hotel rooms of television sets to which a satellite or terrestrial television signal is sent by cable constitute an act of communication to the public which is covered by the harmonisation of national laws protecting copyright provided for in Article 3 of Directive 2001/29/EC (1) of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2001?

2.

Is the fact of deeming a hotel room to be a strictly domestic location, so that communication by means of television sets to which is fed a signal previously received by the hotel is not regarded as communication to the public, contrary to the protection of copyright pursued by Directive 2001/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2001?

3.

For the purposes of protecting copyright in relation to acts of communication to the public provided for in Directive 2001/29/EEC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2001, can a communication that is effected through a television set inside a hotel bedroom be regarded as public because successive viewers have access to the work?

(1)  Directive 2001/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2001 on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society (OJ L 167, of 22.6.2001 p. 10).