In judgment of Special Appeals REsp 1873611, REsp 1870771 and REsp 1880121, held on March 24, 2021, the Second Section of the Superior Court of Justice (STJ), under the rite of Special Repetitive Appeals (Theme 1.066), fixed the theses of what:
“A) The availability of equipment in a hotel room, motel or similar for the transmission of musical, literary and audiovisual works allows the collection of royalties by the Central Collection and Distribution Office – ECAD.
b) The hiring of pay TV services by a hotel enterprise does not prevent the collection of copyrights by the Central Collection and Distribution Office – ECAD, with no bis in idem ”.
According to the understanding signed by the STJ, all hotels will be required to pay royalties to ECAD, resulting from the availability of music and / or movies in their rooms.
It is worth mentioning that this decision pacifies the issue, ratifying the majority understanding in the STJ, which had already positioned itself favorably to the ECAD thesis in some previous judgments.
While the STJ’s Second Section analyzed the issue, there was a determination to suspend, at the national level, the progress of all pending cases, individual or collective, that dealt with the affected issue (possibility of charging rights by ECAD against hotels ), however, the possibility of granting urgent measures by ordinary bodies is maintained (according to the judgment published on 6/10/2020).
With the judgment and the establishment of an understanding as to the mandatory payment by the copyright hotels to ECAD, all the processes that were suspended throughout the country awaiting the decision in the Repetitive Appeal, will be resumed and the decision of the STJ on Theme 1.066 should henceforth to be observed by all judges and courts in the country.
As a consequence of the decision, all hotels should seek ECAD to regularize the situation and proceed to make the payment of copyrights, just as it is expected that ECAD will start to notify judicially or even to legally charge hotels that are not paying their fees. Copyright.
If you are interested in obtaining more information on this subject, our team is at your disposal to talk about it.
