The Antitrust has ascertained that SIAE, "at least since 2012 January XNUMX", has been guilty of abusing its dominant position with a series of practices aimed at excluding competitors from the copyright management market. The Authority made it known in a note.
In particular, the Antitrust still explains, the conduct contested by SIAE regards:
- the imposition of constraints on the offer of services that had to be provided in a competitive regime, hindering the freedom of copyright holders to manage their rights at the time of the attribution, limitation or revocation of the mandate;
- the imposition of constraints aimed at ensuring SIAE the management of the copyrights of owners not registered with SIAE, even where the latter had expressly expressed their intention not to use the services provided by it;
- the imposition of obstacles in the stipulation by users - in particular, national TV broadcasters and organizers of live concerts - of other license agreements for the use of works with SIAE's competitors;
- the exclusion of competitors from the markets relating to the management of copyright of foreign repertoires.
The Authority has ordered SIAE "to immediately put an end to the distortionary behaviors of competition ascertained and to refrain from engaging in similar behaviors in the future".
Furthermore, the Antitrust "imposed a symbolic pecuniary fine on SIAE, equal to 1000 euros", because the abusive conducts "were carried out in markets characterized by close contiguity with the areas covered by the reserve in force until 15 October 2017".
