CzechRep to seek EU court´s advice on copyright administration Brno, Jan 3 (CTK) - The Prague City Court will probably lodge a preliminary question with the European Court of Justice (ECJ) over copyright collective administration, it ensues from the Czech Constitutional Court (US) verdict today. The Czech judiciary wants to find out whether the relevant Czech law is in harmony with the EU´s or not. A problem may rest in the Czech law actually granting a copyright administration monopoly to a few organisations, the US said. The US has complied with a complaint of a Prague pub owner who was fined for using a radio and TV sets without a licence. He disagreed with the 9,000-crown fine imposed on him by Intergram, a company managing the copyright of performing arts and audio and audiovisual producers. He pointed to shortcomings in the Czech law and its incompatibility with EU norms. The complainant asked the Prague court to lodge the preliminary question with the ECJ, but the court rejected his request without explaining its position. The US panel of judges said this was a clear mistake and that the preliminary question should have been lodged. It said the interpretation of EU norms in this area is not unambiguous. Under the copyright law, the Culture Ministry grants the authorisation to copyright collective administration on condition the same type of works of art is not managed by another organisation. "Introducing a legal monopoly is not usual in other countries´ legal orders, and the Czech Republic has already been warned by the EC about a possible discrepancy between [its law and] the EU law´s principles," the US said. Now the Prague City Court has to discuss the pub owner´s lawsuit again. In view of the US´s fresh verdict, the Prague court is likely to lodge a preliminary question with the ECJ. Intergram presents itself as an independent company of performing artists and audio and audiovisual producers. It is the only entity in the Czech Republic to perform collective administration of copyright in this branch. ($1=19.718 crowns) rtj/dr/ms 