Facts
Suisa, the authorized collective management society, sued [B.], the operator of a video rental business, for the payment of royalties for the rental of audiovisual works carried out between July 1, 1993 and June 30, 1996. [B.] contested that the royalties for the period prior to February 25, 1995 were not prescribed.Considerations
The Court considered that the right to remuneration provided for in Art. 13 para. 1 of the CopA is not of a tortious nature, but falls under a legal obligation to compensate for the exhaustion of the author's exclusive rights. Consequently, the general rules on prescription in Arts. 127 et seq. of the CO apply, and not the one-year time limit provided for in Art. 60 CO for civil liability actions.
The Court then considered that the rental royalties provided for in Art. 13 para. 1 CopA constitute periodic benefits within the meaning of Art. 128 no. 1 CO,…