Is the Script of a Television Programme the Crux of Being a Legal Performer?

Abstract

Abstract Last January, the Spanish Supreme Court dismissed the appeal brought against a judgment of the Madrid Provincial Court rejecting the status of ‘actor’ of one of the characters who, together with the announcer, regularly took part in one of the most famous television quiz shows in Spain during the 1990s: ‘Cifras y Letras’. This was a person who acted as an expert teacher of letters whose role consisted basically in constructing long words of nine letters in response to the answers given by the contestants, conversing with them in a very natural and fluent manner on the basis of the script and the informative help which he was given at the time of the production. The inadmissibility of the appeal lodged by ‘the professor’ deprives us of knowing, for the first time, how the concept of performer in Spanish intellectual property law should be interpreted, and even, enjoying all the requirements of an autonomous concept of European Union law, of knowing what the interpretation of the CJEU would be. However, by giving finality to the Audiencia’s judgment, it provides us with the opportunity to delve deeper into this concept by analysing the legal requirements that the artist and her performance must meet. Considering that a protectable performance gives rise to the neighbouring right including the right to receive an equitable remuneration of compulsory collective management for the public communication of the recording containing her performance, clarifying which performances are protected becomes crucial for the proper functioning of the system.