Judgment of the Federal Tribunal on the cable retransmission of radio and television programmes

Facts

SUISA (Swiss Society for Authors' Rights on the Performance and Dissemination of Musical Works) sued Rediffusion AG, which operates a cable television network in the Zurich region, to obtain a declaration that Rediffusion cannot retransmit radio and television programmes to its subscribers without SUISA's authorization. Rediffusion filed a counterclaim seeking a declaration that it can retransmit programmes of the SSR (Swiss Broadcasting Corporation) and other broadcasts without authorization, to the extent that its subscribers could also receive them directly with their own antenna.

Considerations

The Federal Tribunal ruled that Rediffusion AG, as an independent company, is carrying out a "public communication" within the meaning of Art. 12(1)(6) CopA when it retransmits works broadcast by other companies to approximately 60,000 subscribers through its facilities. It must therefore…