The Principle of Appropriate and Proportionate Remuneration in Copyright Contracts and Its Implementation in the Baltic States

Abstract

The Digital Single Market Directive 2019/790 constitutes a significant milestone in the field of copyright, especially its provisions aimed to ensure the fair remuneration for authors and performers. This publication focuses on Art. 18 of the Directive, which establishes the principle of appropriate and proportionate remuneration. This principle follows from the general understanding of authors and performers as a weaker bargaining party. Being formulated abstractly, the principle of appropriate and proportionate remuneration leaves broad discretion for its implementation. Therefore, the article presents case studies concerning the implementation of the said principle into national laws of the three Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. The first task is to check the operation of the principle of appropriate and proportionate remuneration in the national legal acts before the implementation of the Digital Single Market Directive. The second task is to compare and assess the prepared national draft legal acts and how they implement this principle. The article concludes that all three Baltic States have chosen a “minimalist” implementation strategy and, as a consequence, the appropriate and proportionate remuneration principle most likely will have no real independent value.