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The liability of website operator for communication to the public of works protected by copyright, offered by users of the network
On February 8th, 2017, the Advocate General Maciej Szpunar delivered to the European Court of Justice an opinion in the case C-610/15. In his opinion the fact that the operator of a website makes it possible to find files containing copyright-protected works, which are offered for sharing on a peer-to-peer network, by indexing the metadata relating to those files and by providing a search engine, constitutes a communication to the public if that operator is aware of the fact that a work is made available on the network without the consent of the copyright holders and does not take action in order to make access to that work impossible.
Referring to the issue of the liability of intermediaries, the Advocate General claims, that Regulation permits an injunction to be obtained against an intermediary ordering it to block access for its users to an indexing site of a peer-to-peer network, if the operator of that site can, under national law, be held liable for copyright infringements committed by users of that network. The measure should be proportionate to the significance and seriousness of the copyright infringements committed. The Advocate General pointed out that is a matter for the national court to determine.
The full content of the opinion of the Advocate General in case C-610/15 is available under the link: