Request for a preliminary ruling from the Bundesgerichtshof (Germany) lodged on 3 December 2024 – bluechip Computer Aktiengesellschaft v Zentralstelle für private Überspielungsrechte (ZPÜ)

(Case C-822/24, bluechip)

(C/2025/1523)

Language of the case: German

Referring court

Bundesgerichtshof

Parties to the main proceedings

Defendant and appellant on a point of law: bluechip Computer Aktiengesellschaft

Applicant and respondent in the appeal on a point of law: Zentralstelle für private Überspielungsrechte (ZPÜ)

Question referred

Is it compatible with Article 5(2)(b) of Directive 2001/29/EC (1) for national legislation to require manufacturers, importers or traders who sell storage media to commercial end customers (legal persons or natural persons who – in a manner discernible by the manufacturer, importer or trader – place orders as end users for commercial purposes) to pay remuneration to finance the fair compensation for the exception to the reproduction right in respect of reproduction for private use, unless such manufacturers, importers or traders prove, in accordance with the rules of national law, that reproductions of a work made with the aid of those devices were in fact made, at the very most, on a small scale by a natural person for private use on any medium, or are made in the normal course of events?

(1)  Directive 2001/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2001 on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society (OJ 2001 L 167, p. 10).