Lawsuit concerning copyright law in Germany: Eric Clapton sues a woman in Germany for selling a CD on ebay that was not authorised by Eric Clapton
Current press reports cover a copyright lawsuit in Germany. The world-famous musician Eric Clapton is said to have sued a woman because she wanted to sell on ebay a CD of one of his concerts, which the musician apparently did not authorise. The lawsuit is not directed against the producer of the said CD, but the private person who wanted to resell the CD online is sued.
In a situation like this, a lawsuit would also be possible against a private person in Switzerland. According to the Swiss Copyright Act (CopA), a private individual is allowed to record a concert for himself, for example with his smartphone. However, he may only record it himself and the recording may only be used for this person himself and in the circle of his relatives and friends (so-called "Privatgebrauch", i.e. private use; art. 19 para. 1 let. a CopA). The recording of a concert may not be made for him by a third party. In the case of sale of a record taken for private use to a third party who is not a relative or friend of the private individual which made the recording, the scope of the legal private use is left and the copyright of the musician or artist etc. is infringed, unless they have permitted the recording or sale. The copyright holder can take legal action against the private individual, regardless of where the recording originated and whether the infringement of copyright occurred knowingly.
In her PhD thesis on "Urheberrechtlicher Eigengebrauch unter Mitwirkung Dritter", Dr. Claudia Marti examined this issue among others.