The battle between Soundreef and SIAE continues

In a ruling issued on May 27, the Court of Milan suspended the enforcement proceedings brought by SIAE against a Soundreef client company that, according to SIAE itself, had paid royalties for the broadcast of background music to the British collecting society.  

In the proceedings, Soundreef intervened to support its client’s position, arguing that the intermediation activities it carried out in Italy regarding rights to music played within commercial establishments were fully legitimate; conversely, according to SIAE, the British collecting society had no mandate to act as an intermediary for such rights.

In the ruling, the judge—based on the case file—found Soundreef’s argument to be well-founded for the time being and therefore dismissed SIAE’s appeal pending the resolution of the case on its merits.

According to the Court of Milan, SIAE has not, in fact, demonstrated to date that it has any authority to act as an intermediary for the copyrights to the works used by the business in question; in any case, it does not appear to have any right to charge the penalties it has sought from the user.

The future of Soundreef remains to be seen in light of the recent outcome of the referendum on the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union. Once the process of leaving the European Union is complete, Soundreef, which is headquartered in London, would in principle no longer be able to invoke the direct application of the Barnier Directive (EU 2014/26).