As far as member states allow reproductions of copyrighted works for private use and for ends that are neither directly nor indirectly commercial, the rights holders must receive fair compensation (see Art 5 (2) b Directive 2001/29/EC). Such compensation is normally not collected at the level of private users, but from those, who commercially market storage media of any kind suitable for such reproductions (CDs, DVDs, USB-Sticks but also Computers, Smartphones etc.). Such copy-right levy is then added to the price of the storage media and thus ultimately borne by the private user.
The Vienna Higher Regional Court now wants to know what "reproductions on any medium" in Art 5 (2) b Directive 2001/29/EC means, and whether this also applies to cloud storage, which would mean that providers of cloud storage services would have to pay copyright levies (see Higher Regional Court Vienna 33 R 50/20w).
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