Dentists Should Not Pay Royalties, EU Court Rules
The European Court of Justice has ruled that dentists should not have to pay royalties for the music they play in their surgeries.
The court, which is situated in Luxembourg, issued the ruling after a case was brought against a dentist in Turin. An agency that collects royalty fees had tried to force the dentist to pay money in return for playing music in his dental surgery.
The European Court of Justice ruled that dentists should not have to pay royalties because they are not broadcasting to the public, however, a separate ruling was made for hotels. The court ruled that hotel guests were considered to be ‘the public’ because they “constitute an indeterminate number of listeners” and added that hotels can make money from playing music.
The court made an exception for hotels in Ireland and this has been granted by the Dublin government.
Marco del Corso, a Turin dentist took his case to the Turin Court of Appeal, after being chased for money by collection agency, Societa Consortile Fonografici. The case was then taken to the European Court of Justice and the ruling was made on the basis that dental patients do not go to a surgery to listen to music, but to seek treatment. Judges also added that there are only a small number of people at a surgery at any one time.
Join this Discussion
