Referral C-579/24 (Austro-Mechana and AKM, 3 Sep 2024)

1. Is EU law, in particular Article 2 of Directive 2001/29/EC, 1 Article 17(1) of Directive (EU) 2019/790 2 and Article 9 of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works (Revised Berne Convention (RBC)), to be interpreted as meaning that an online content-sharing service provider pursuant to Article 2, point 6, of Directive (EU) 2019/790 which stores works and other subject matter uploaded by users, in addition to performing an act of communication to the public (or an act of making available to the public) within the meaning of Article 3 of Directive 2001/29/EC, also performs, or is to be regarded as also performing, an act of reproduction within the meaning of Article 2 of Directive 2001/29/EC, and must obtain separate authorisation to do so from the rightholders referred to in Article 2 of Directive 2001/29/EC?

2. If the first question is answered in the affirmative:

Is EU law, in particular Article 17(1) and (2) and Article 1(2) and Article 2, point 6, of Directive (EU) 2019/790, to be interpreted as meaning that an authorisation to reproduce obtained by online content-sharing service providers within the meaning of Article 2, point 6, of Directive (EU) 2019/790 also covers acts of reproduction performed by, or to be regarded as being performed by, the users of such platforms, provided that those users are not acting on a commercial basis or their activity does not generate significant revenues?

3. If the first question is answered in the negative:

Is EU law, in particular Article 2 of Directive 2001/29/EC and Article 17(2) of Directive (EU) 2019/790, to be interpreted as meaning that users of services offered by online content-sharing service providers within the meaning of Article 6, point 2, of Directive (EU) 2019/790, in uploading copyright-protected works and subject matter for the purposes of storing and sharing them, perform acts of reproduction within the meaning of Article 2 of Directive 2001/29/EC and require authorisation to do so from the rightholders referred to in Article 2 of Directive 2001/29/EC?

4. If the first question is answered in the affirmative:

Is EU law, in particular Article 4, Article 5 and Article 16(1) and (2) of Directive 2014/26/EU, 1 to be interpreted as meaning that rightholders may grant the reproduction right under Article 2 of Directive 2001/29/EC, on the one hand, and the right of communication to the public under Article 3 of the same directive, on the other hand, for the purposes of licensing under Article 17(1) and (2) of Directive (EU) 2019/790, individually and separately, too, to a collective management organisation (or an independent management entity), either in order to have those rights managed by different collective management organisations (or independent management entities) or in order to manage those rights individually in part?