(1) The ECJ was asked to decide whether sites that link to streams are responsible for communicating copyrighted works to the public. In this case, the defendant operated a website based on free, unauthorised live streaming of television programmes, including those protected by the claimant’s copyright. (2) The ECJ confirmed that any retransmission of a terrestrial television broadcast over the Internet constitutes a communication to the public. In particular, the concept of ‘communication to the public’ covers a retransmission of the works included in a terrestrial television broadcast (a) where the retransmission is made by an organisation other than the original broadcaster, (b) by means of an internet stream made available to the subscribers of that other organisation who may receive that retransmission by logging...
Public consultation on procedures for notifying and acting on illegal content hosted by online intermediaries, held by the European Commission in 2012.
The ECJ had to decide whether a Belgian court could require Netlog, the Belgian equivalent to Facebook, to immediately cease making available works from SABAM‘s repertoire by installing a filtering system, which would oblige Netlog to actively monitor all the data of its users and to prevent future IPR-infringements. The ECJ decided that European law must be interpreted as precluding a national court from issuing an injunction against a hosting service provider which requires it to install a system for filtering: (1) information which is stored on its servers by its service users; (2) which applies indiscriminately to all of those users; (3) as a preventative measure; (4) exclusively at its expense; and (5) for an unlimited period, (6) which is capable of identifying electronic files containing musical, cinematographic...
mentioning that it appears necessary to set up a horizontal European framework for notice-and-action procedures and announcing an initiative on notice-and-action procedures (Main Action 12).
This CJEU ruling applied an internal EU regulation, the Brussels regulation, to adjudicate the relative jurisdiction and powers of EU Member States in cases involving personality rights. It combined two cases. In eDate Advertising, a German claimant convicted of murdering a well-known actor in 1993 complained of an Austrian website that reported his name and conviction history. In Martinez, a French actor Olivier Martinez alleged infringement of the right to his image in a gossip article in a UK online news source. In both cases, defendants argued that national courts could not enjoin publication outside their jurisdictions. The CJEU's Grand Chamber ruled, "Article 5(3) of Council Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 of 22 December 2000 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial...