The new Croatian Law on Copyright and Related Rights (“Law”) entered into force on 22 October 2021. One of the main reasons for adopting the Law was the implementation of EU Directives 2019/790 and 2019/789 into the local legislation. The new Law modernised the system of copyright protection and related rights concerning digital society needs, in line with the development of the EU legal framework. Below is the overview of the most important changes.
The definition of copyright work has been broadened so that it now precisely defines the audio-visual and journalistic works and adds new copyright-protected works such as videogames and other multimedia work.
The country-of-origin principle is determined for the situations where broadcasting organisations wish to provide certain cross-border internet services as ancillary broadcasting services.
In line with EU Directive 2019/790, the Law aims to overcome the issue of the “value gap” occurring on the digital platforms for content sharing by prescribing an obligation for the service providers to obtain necessary approvals from the authors. The goal is to provide authors with compensation for using their works online, i.e., to minimise unauthorised use of protected content. The Law also introduces a higher level of protection for the employer and the employee regarding the copyright-protected work created during employment. It introduces a new related right for publishers of informative publications.
Legal insecurities related to certain exceptions and restrictions of copyright and related rights in the context of new uses of copyright-protected works and other protected content are tackled and adapted to the digital and cross-border environment. For example, the use of copyright-protected works in automated computer analysis of large amounts of information in digital form by modern digital technologies is allowed without compensation for academic purposes. Furthermore, teaching in a digital environment and the use of copyright-protected works in the implementation of digital teaching is allowed for non-commercial purposes.
The conditions for collective management of copyright and related rights have been regulated in more detail. The compulsory collective management of the rights is extended to all types of programme retransmissions, and clear rules were introduced regarding the regulation of copyright and related rights in situations of transmission of programme signals through a direct injection process.
In addition, provisions on enforcement supervision and infringements have been updated and are now in line with special regulations on inspections and administrative supervision in the field of copyright law.
The information in this document does not constitute legal advice on any particular matter and is provided for general informational purposes only.
