Linking on the internet could be perceived as copyright infringement – important judgment of The European Court of Justice

The European Court of Justice, in the judgment of 8th September 2016 (case C-160/15) referred to the issue of copyright infringement by linking on the Internet.

The Court held that in order to establish whether person posting the link infringed author’s economic rights (more specifically, whether such action constituted a “communication to the public”) it is necessary to determine whether such person was aware of the fact that that the publication of the works in question on the linked website was illegal.  

According to the Court, when the link is provided with the pursuit of financial gain, there should be a presumption that the person posting such link was aware of the illegal nature of the publication of the work. It means that posting links to the content that was illegally communicated to the public creates a presumption of copyright infringement by a person posting the link with the pursuit of financial gain.

Moreover, if the link to protected work is posted without pursuing financial gain (e.g. for private purposes) the person posting the link may also infringe copyright, if such person knows or should reasonably know about the illegal nature of the publication of those works on the other website.

For more information, please visit the following website:  http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf;jsessionid=9ea7d2dc30d5bdf1942b31274577a90dbdea5c519c85.e34KaxiLc3qMb40Rch0SaxyKah90?text=&docid=183124&pageIndex=0&doclang=EN&mode=req&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=656075