United States of America

Netherlands

Copyright and Related Rights

1. Please explain whether and how Dutch law provides protection for works, phonograms and performances from other WTO Members, and whether and how it does so on the basis of national treatment, as required by TRIPS Article 3 (generally, with respect to all copyrights and neighbouring rights) and Article 9.1 (incorporating Berne Article 5(1)). We note that Article 47 of the Netherlands’s Copyright Law grants protection only to Dutch nationals and to those works originally fixed in the Netherlands. Additionally, how is national treatment afforded with respect to the distribution of blank tape levies under the Dutch Copyright Law.

Following Article 93 of the Dutch Constitution, a provision in an international treaty to which the Netherlands has become a party can be relied upon in court by individuals provided such provision is in its contents addressed to such individuals and sufficiently clear; that is, no further measures by the national legislative authorities are warranted. Article 47 of the Copyright Act is relevant only in cases where the author is neither a national of a Union (and now: WTO) country nor has published for the first time in such country. Blank tape levies are collected by the independent non profit "Home Copy Foundation" (Stichting De Thuiskopie). For practical reasons, the Home Copy Foundation distributes the levies not to each individual rightholder, but among representative organizations. These organizations in their turn pay out the monies received among the rightholders they represent.