UrhDaG

A service provider within the meaning of Section 2 UrhDaG is a provider of services whose main purpose is the storage and making available to the public of copyrighted content uploaded by third parties or if the providers at least also pursue this purpose. These service providers organize and advertise such content for the purpose of making a profit and compete with online content services for the same target groups. This may include platforms such as video hosting services, social networks and other online services.

CESARights asserts the above-mentioned statutory remuneration claims. Specifically:

• Section 4 (3) UrhDaG, the so-called direct remuneration claim
• Section 5 (2), the remuneration claim for the use of a copyrighted work authorized by law for communication to the public in the context of a parody, a pastiche or a caricature and
• Section 12, the remuneration claims for uses authorized by law as well as alternative claims for this

According to the UrhDaG, service providers are responsible under copyright law for the content uploaded by their users if this content is made publicly accessible, see Section 1 UrhDaG.

Service providers must acquire licenses for publicly accessible content that is protected by copyright. Otherwise, they must take measures to prevent copyright infringements and respond to complaints and blocking requests from rights holders so that protected content is not available.

In addition, the UrhDaG regulates statutory remuneration claims (e.g. a direct remuneration claim for authors and performers as well as remuneration claims for legally permitted parodies or "pastiches" and for presumably permitted uses) for which fair remuneration must be paid by the service providers to the relevant rights holders.

Since the UrhDaG came into force in 2021, the above-mentioned remuneration claims subject to collecting societies have existed and their assertion has been prepared since then. Collecting societies whose members hold claims under the UrhDaG now commission CESARights as a service provider to assert existing claims against platforms since 2021 out of court and, if necessary, in court and and to protect them from the possible onset of the statute of limitations. To this end, CESARights also offers the conclusion of waivers to the statute of limitations in order to initially avoid the assertion of claims in court and to enable negotiated solutions. The newly created legal foundations and their application represent an important step for the enforcement of copyrights in the digital world and demonstrate the important contribution that collective rights management plays in this regard.

Parties liable for remuneration are all service providers, i.e. platform operators within the meaning of Section 2 UrhDaG. From the perspective of CESARights, this includes the operators of (social media) platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and Reddit.

In principle, this concerns all copyright-protected works and related rights subject matter that can be found on the service providers' platforms, with the exception of image works and advertising content. The protected subject matter listed in the tariffs, i.e. films, series, documentaries, TV and radio programmes, tutorials, music, music videos, theatre and dance performances, podcasts, audiobooks, radio plays, texts and journalistic articles, is listed merely by way of example. In this respect, particular distinction must be made with regard to content that is covered by the so-called "social media image licence" of VG Bild-Kunst.

The requirements of the respective remuneration claim must also be met, whereby the tariffs already reflect these conditions. These works or protected subject matters are covered by the tariff pursuant to Section 5 (2) and Section 12 (1) UrhDaG if they have been edited to create a pastiche, parody or caricature and/or are presumed to be permitted within the meaning of Section 12 (1) UrhDaG. For the claim under Section 4 (3) UrhDaG, it is in particular required  that a licence has been granted to the service provider by a third party who is not a collecting society or a digital distributor.

Eight German collecting societies have assigned their claims under the UrhDaG, which have been granted to them by their entitled persons or that are covered by reciprocal agreements, to CESARights GmbH with effect from 1 August 2021. The collecting societies represent the following national and international rightholders in particular:

• GEMA: Musical works by authors and music publishers
• GÜFA: Pornographic film works by producers, film authors and performing artists
• GVL:
  • Sound recordings, unpublished sound recordings, audiovisual productions and music video clips: artistic performances by instrumental musicians, singers, conductors, music directors, artistic producers, dancers, actors, dubbing actors and artistic speakers, directors, authors of music video clips, as well as related rights of event organisers
  • Sound recordings and music video clips: Sound recording and film producers;
• GWFF: Film works by producers, authors and actors;
• VG Bild-Kunst: Image works and film works by visual artists, image authors [Note: The content of the above rightholders is part of the so-called " Social Media Image Licence " of VG Bild-Kunst] and film authors;
• VFF: Film works by producers, authors and actors;
• VGF: Film works by producers, authors and actors;
• VG Wort: Literary works by authors and publishers.

CESARights is the only dependent management entity (§ 3 VGG) in this area that administers claims under the UrhDaG.

CESARights and the collecting societies have been and continue to be faced with the task of appropriately enforcing the information and remuneration claims arising from the German Act on the Copyright Liability of Online Content Sharing Service Providers (Urheberrechts-Diensteanbieter-Gesetz – UrhDaG). The remuneration debtors often oppose the claims under the UrhDaG already at the level of principle and in part also refuse out-of-court negotiations, which is why CESARights was forced to initiate court proceedings in order to safeguard limitation periods and enforce rights. However, both in court processdings and in out-of-court negotiations, the parties cannot make any significant progress if no specific remuneration claims are at issue. Once the final conditions for determining remuneration were in place, i.e. once an empirical study as a basis for determining the tariffs had been completed in 2025 and the collecting societies, as principals of CESARights, had approved the tariffs in early 2026, the tariffs could be published.