On July 1, 2015, the Slovak parliament adopted Act No. 185/2015 Coll., the Copyright Act, as amended (the “Act”). The Act aims to establish a new modern and flexible system that will enable rights holders and users of copyrighted works a more effective exercise of their rights. The proclaimed rationale behind the new Act is further to meet the requirements of a digital economy by increasing competitiveness through innovation and investment-friendly legal environment.

As the Act represents a full transposition of the Information Society Directive (2001/29/EC), among the main additions of the new framework is a new and expanded list of exceptions and limitations of copyright giving users of works more opportunities for legitimate access to protected works. For example, the Act introduces an entirely new exception to the reproduction right with respect to the caricature, parody and pastiche.

In the area of collective rights management, the Act introduces an extended collective license agreement enabling collecting societies to also manage rights of unrepresented authors (subject to opt-out). Finally, the Act introduces multi-territorial licensing of rights in musical works for online use.