The Luxembourg-based court — the highest in the European Union — upheld a complaint Dec. 7 by the Spanish Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers against hotel chain Rafael Hotels. The court ruled that the chain broke copyright law by installing TV sets in rooms and playing ambient music without paying royalties.

The court said that a hotel receiving a TV signal must pay separate copyright fees for broadcasting in guest rooms.

Although the ruling refers only to the dispute in Spain, it has heavy implications for the Czech hospitality industry. The Copyright Protection Union (OSA) has been involved in a dispute with a Czech hotel in the Regional Court in Prague since late 2005.

That case was on hold, pending the decision in the Spanish case, said Jana Bärová, chairwoman of the board at OSA. "We hope that the European Court of Justice's ruling will boost our position."

Czech hoteliers fear that the Spanish case has set a precedent.

"It looks like a matter of time before copyright protection organizations file a lawsuit against the Czech Republic over royalties to be paid by hotels," said Pavel Hlinka, president of the Association of Hotels and Restaurants of the Czech Republic.

Czech hotels had to pay royalties for music until 2005, when a new authorship law came into effect. That law saved hotels tens of thousands of crowns per year, said Ivana Stehlíková, music director at the music-themed Hotel Aria in Prague 1-Malá Strana.

"We don't think the requirement to pay royalties for music played in guest rooms is fair," Stehlíková said. "Hotels in the United States don't have to pay such."

Contrary to the European Court of Justice's ruling, Stehlíková insists that a guest room is not a public space.

"It is a private space that not even our employees can enter when it's occupied by a guest," she said.

Bärová said the OSA expects to collect about 20 million Kč ($950,000) annually if royalties from music in guest rooms are reintroduced. Apart from paying the OSA, hotels would also need to pay two other authorship-rights watchdogs: Intergram and Dilia.

Hlinka said royalties could especially pose a threat to smaller low-cost hotels.