Council of Copyright Experts

Function
The Expert Opinion
Members
Conciliatory Body
Correspondence
Persons Responsible

The Council of Copyright Experts has been founded in 1970. Its function, the framework rules of its structure and operation are laid down again in the Act No. LXXVI of 1999 (CA). According to Section 101 Subsection (1) the Council operates next to the Hungarian Patent Office and separately from the official judicial expert system.

Function

According to the CA and the Government Decree the Council proceeds in connection with professional questions that arise in copyright disputes at the request of courts or authorities, or on out of court commission in matters in connection with the exercise of use rights.

According to the practical experiences the SzJSzT primarily plays a role in disputes between parties already involved in court proceedings, however it is not impossible that it is requested to give an expert opinion in out of court procedures or before litigation. The situation is more reassuring, if the parties in the dispute come together to the conclusion that they turn to the SzJSzT in the disputed professional copyright matter and they regard the Council's decision, as a quasi arbitration decision, as binding on them. It is naturally not excluded either that only one party turns to the SzJSzT, however the danger in such cases is that the other party does not regard the expert opinion as authoritative. In this case court proceedings can still be commenced, where the already existing expert opinion of the SzJSzT has without doubt catalyzing force.

Expert Opinion

It is a characteristic of the Board's expert opinions that they extend to both the specialist and legal issues of the given case. Mostly they do not decide purely professional issues, therefore they usually do not participate e.g. in the decision of technical issues, or in the estimation of seized pirate cassettes' value.

The Board adopts the expert opinion based on the questions asked and the documents submitted; it does not conduct a separate procedure in order to determine the facts. However if necessary it can ask the requesting court or authority or the commissioner to submit further data.

Fee of the Expert Opinion

The adoption of the expert opinion falls under the services exempted of tax on the basis of activities according to the Act on VAT.
On the basis of this the Office (and not the Board) issues an invoice on the sum of the fee determined by the appendix of the decree (from October, 7 2005 in case of a three member council HUF 180 000 + VAT and in case of a five member council HUF 285 000 + VAT) to the requesting body with an 8-day obligation to pay. There are two types of payments: either as a commission fee (in this case the fee includes the social security contribution) or on the basis of an invoice. The fee payoff of the SzJSzT's proceeding council does not happen according to the legal regulations on the remuneration of official judicial or ad hoc experts, where the expert has to hand in an itemized schedule of fees, make a declaration on the selected form of tax and fee payoff, etc.

Members

The members of the Council are appointed for a five year period by the Minister of Justice in conjunction with the Minister of National Cultural Heritage. The Government Decree No. 156/1999 (XI. 3.) Korm. on the Organization and Functioning of the Council of Copyright Experts contains further regulations on the appointment of the Council of maximum two hundred members, its board of fifteen members and the President.

The Board of Experts consists of members with proficiency in the fields of copyright or creation and performance. The Board usually proceeds in three member councils, however in more complicated cases five member councils may be set up. If the adoption of the expert opinion necessitates special expert knowledge, an external expert's contribution can be resorted to. The external expert resorted so is eligible to payment.

Conciliatory Body

The institution of the Conciliatory Body operating within the SzJSzT has been introduced by the CA in 1999. The origin of this legal institution was partly an obligation arising out of legal harmonization and party the fact that since the amendment of the CA by the Media Act the broadcasting televisions may individually authorize the simultaneous broadcasting of their programs farther (by cable television).

The procedural rules of the Act No. LXXI of 1994 on Arbitration contained in Chapter II have to be applied on the procedure of the Conciliatory Body. The sole essential regulation is that the Conciliatory Body, and consequently its members have to (may) be designated from among the members of the SzJSzT. The number of the members has to be uneven, in lack of agreement the number of the members is: three. Its Rules of Procedure are worked out by the SzJSzT and approved by the Ministry of Justice. The Conciliatory Body proceeding in concrete cases is working up its own rules of procedure and determines its tariffs within the framework of the present by-law.

Correspondence

Hungarian Patent Office
1054 Budapest, Garibaldi u. 2.
Phone: +36 (1) 474-59-61,
Fax: +36 (1) 474-59-65

Persons Responsible