iesy Repository GmbH - Irish Stock Exchange

ights themselves. As an exception, however, broadcasters have the choice to assert their rights individually or via a
collecting society.
GEMA, one of the German collecting societies, has been mandated by most of the relevant German collecting societies
to collect royalties from the telecommunications cable network operators. The large German private broadcasters, however,
mandated VG Media to assert their royalty claims based on their cable re-transmission rights. The amount of the royalties due
is not determined in the Copyright Act.
On November 21, 1991, the legal predecessor of DTAG concluded agreements with the German public broadcasters,
the German private broadcasters, certain foreign broadcasters and GEMA (acting both on its own behalf and on behalf of
other relevant German collecting societies). These agreements governed the collection by GEMA of royalties for, among
other things, literary, scientific or artistic works protected by copyright law that were included in radio and television
programs re-transmitted through the telecommunications cable networks that are today operated by the regional cable
companies. In 2000, a dispute over the amount of royalties to be paid to GEMA and to the German private broadcasters
arose, and the existing agreements were terminated with effect from December 31, 2002. The parties involved entered into
lengthy negotiations leading to the following settlements:
The Level 3 operators, the German public broadcasters, a number of small private German radio and television
companies, certain foreign broadcasters and GEMA (acting both on its own behalf and on behalf of these private and foreign
broadcasters and the other relevant German collecting societies except for VG Media) agreed to amend and reinstate the
agreements that had previously been terminated with effect of January 1, 2003. The new agreements cover analog and digital
transmission and will remain in force until December 31, 2006.
ish, the other Level 3 operators and VG Media entered into an agreement regarding the acquisition of rights for the
retransmission of radio and television programs that include, among other things, literary, scientific or artistic work protected
by copyright law, through the telecommunications cable networks of the regional cable companies. This agreement came into
force on January 1, 2003 and may be terminated by each party on December 31, 2005, at the earliest.
In the three months ended March 31, 2005, total copyright fees paid by ish under the GEMA and the VG Media
agreements amounted to €4.7 million, and in the year ended December 31, 2004 amounted to €18.7 million.
Some other collecting societies represented by ARGE Kabel have claimed additional royalty payments from ish.
ARGE Kabel, an association of three German collecting societies, did not fully accept the GEMA settlements and claims that
it is entitled to additional royalty payments from ish. Although ARGE Kabel has not filed a lawsuit against ish, it has
threatened to sue ish through a letter dated December 11, 2003 to recover these royalties. ish intends to vigorously defend
itself against this claim. Meanwhile, ARGE Kabel has sued KDG. The case is pending at the arbitration court in Munich.
The German legislature is currently considering a reform of the German Copyright Act. As part of the reform, the
obligation of operators of telecommunications cable networks to pay royalties for the transmission of radio and television
programs is under scrutiny. Despite the submission of legal studies and the support of the Federal Ministry of Economics and
Labor, the Ministry of Justice has not yet changed the relevant provision of the Copyright Act to the benefit of cable
operators by providing a respective amendment of the Copyright Act in the official draft. The reform process is ongoing. A
proposal for separate royalties for broadcasters, however, has so far not been integrated into the current official draft
amending the Copyright Act.
Properties
The following table sets forth certain information with respect to the facilities ish currently operates and which ish
believes are of importance to its operations. All the following facilities are leased to ish.
Location
187
Approximate Area
(Square Meters) Use of Facility
Bochum, Koenigsallee 178 8,341 Customer service
Kerpen, Michael Schumacher Str. 1 7,994 NOC
Cologne, Widdersdorfer Str. 399-403 6,861 Head office
Others (5) 4,237 Branch offices
Technical Sites (11) 4,141 Technical sites
Since the summer of 2002, ish has closed 60 buildings, two warehouses and eight HUB sites. All material planned site
closures by ish have been completed.