Fair Remuneration for Private Copying (Art. 25 TRLPI)

The Intellectual Property Law in Art. 31 regulates private copying as a limitation on the exclusive right of right-holders to authorise the reproduction or copying of their protected works and subject-matter. This limitation allows individuals to make copies of published works in the form of books, as well as phonograms, videograms, or other sound, visual, or audiovisual media, using non-typographic technical devices or instruments, provided that such copies are exclusively for private use, and not for professional or business purposes, without the need for authorisation from the right-holders of the protected works and subject-matter. 

   As this is a limitation on the exclusive right of right-holders to authorise the reproduction of their works, Art. 25 of the Law establishes that private copies shall give rise to fair remuneration intended to adequately remunerate the harm caused to right-holders as a result of reproductions made under this legal limitation. 

The model currently in force in Spain is based on the payment of remuneration by manufacturers in Spain of equipment, devices, and physical media suitable for reproduction of protected works, when they act as commercial distributors, as well as by purchasers of the same outside Spanish territory, when they acquire them for commercial distribution or use in Spain.

   Additionally, distributors, wholesellers, and retailers who are subsequent purchasers of the above mentioned equipment, devices, and physical media shall be jointly and severally liable for the payment of the remuneration, in relation to the debtors who supplied them, unless they can provide proof that they have effectively paid such remuneration to them.