The National Commission Penalizes Various Press Summary Sector Associations

24 May 2011

The regulatory body has imposed fines for the total amount of €335,000 on three associations for anti-competitive practices.

On May 12, 2011, the Commission issued a brief press release whereby they explained that the different associations under investigation had undertaken anti-competitive practices consisting in the coordination of sales strategies.

The alleged conduct is related to the current wording of article 32 of the Intellectual Property Act, which allows various options when selling press summary copyrights: 1) to object to the reproduction unless a specified amount is paid, or 2) to not object to the reproduction and subsequently obtain equivalent remuneration.

The associations under investigation expressly recommended that their members opt for the first form of remuneration and standardized sales conditions – thus distorting free competition in the market by having restricted their member’s freedom of choice of remuneration for the reproduction of press summaries.

For further information, please contact Eric Jordi: [email protected]