Communication (right of)

The right of communication to the public is set out in Article 3(1) of Directive 2001/29/EC (the Copyright Directive or Infosoc Directive), which requires that EU member states must provide authors with the exclusive right to authorise or prohibit any communication to the public of their works by wire or wireless means, including the making available to the public of their works in such a way that members of the public may access them from a place and at a time individually chosen by them.

Communication (right of), Distribution (right of), Exhaustion, Making available (right of), Reproduction (right of)

(Institute for Information Law (IViR))/ /Leave a comment

As the jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice and ongoing discussions in the EU legislature illustrate, the economic rights granted to right holders under EU copyright law – the rights of reproduction, communication to the public and distribution – have become increasingly unpredictable. While the right of reproduction already covers almost every direct or…

Communication (right of), Enforcement, France, Infringement, Liability, Reproduction (right of)

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At the end of 2017, HADOPI published an important survey on its activities for the period 2016-2017. It gives interesting and useful information on the graduated response created by the French legislator to fight online infringement directly at the source, by educating internet users and dissuading them from unlawfully downloading and/or sharing (and if possible…

Case Law, Communication (right of), Digital Single Market, Germany, Infringement, Liability

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Decision of the German Bundesgerichtshof of September 21, 2017, file no. I ZR 11/16: “Vorschaubilder III” (“Thumbnails III”). In this decision, the Bundesgerichtshof (“BGH”) applies the latest CJEU case law on liability for linking, namely Svensson (C-466/12), GS Media (C-160/15), Filmspeler (C-527/15) and BREIN/Ziggo (C-610/15) to search engines and in particular to Google’s picture search….

Case Law, Communication (right of), Infringement, Portugal

(Coimbra University)/ /Leave a comment

The Court of Appeal of Lisbon confirmed that it is mandatory to have a licence and to pay for performing broadcast works to clients via TV sets in hotel rooms as this constitutes communication of the works to the public. Case date: 16 May 2017 Case number: 197/14.2YHLSB.L1-7 Court: Court of Appeal of Lisbon A full summary of…

Case Law, CJEU, Communication (right of), European Union, Infringement, Italy, Liability

(Institute for Information Law (IViR)) and (Universidade Católica Portuguesa)/ /Leave a comment

Introduction and background Case C-265/16, VCAST, concerns the question of whether the private copying exception covers the services of an online platform that allows users to store copies of free-to-air TV programmes in private cloud storage spaces. In his opinion of 7 September 2017 (discussed here), Advocate General (AG) Szpunar proposed a mixed answer to…

AG Opinion, Case Law, CJEU, Communication (right of), European Union, Exceptions and Limitations, Infringement, Private copying

(Institute for Information Law (IViR)) and (Universidade Católica Portuguesa)/ /Leave a comment

On 7 September 2017, AG Szpunar delivered his opinion on Case C-265/16, VCAST. The case concerns the question of whether the private copying exception covers the services of an online platform that allows users to store copies of free-to-air TV programmes in private cloud storage spaces. AG Szpunar’s proposed answer was a mixed one: while…

Case Law, CJEU, Communication (right of), European Union, France, Legislative process, Reproduction (right of)

(Institute for Information Law (IViR))/ /Leave a comment

A full summary of this case has been published on Kluwer IP Law and the case has been discussed on the Kluwer Copyright Blog here. The CJEU held that Article 2(a) and Article 3(1) of Directive 2001/29 preclude national legislation that gives an approved collecting society the right to authorise the digital reproduction and communication to the…

Case Law, CJEU, Communication (right of), European Union, Infringement

(University of Cyprus)/ /Leave a comment

In the case Staatlich genehmigte Gesellschaft der Autoren, Komponisten und Musikverleger registrierte Genossenschaft mbH (AKM) V Zürs.net Betriebs GmbH (C-138/16, Judgment of 16 March 2017) the CJEU was called upon to decide once again on the seminal concept of communication to the public. The right of communication to the public, which has proved to be…

Case Law, CJEU, Communication (right of), Enforcement, European Union, Infringement, Liability

(CIPIL, University of Cambridge)/ /Leave a comment

On 14 June 2017, the CJEU handed down its highly anticipated decision in Case C-610/15, Stichting Brein v Ziggo. As was reported on this blog when the Advocate General’s Opinion was released, the case represents the first time that the liability proper (i.e. for damages, as opposed to mere injunctions) of an internet intermediary for…

Case Law, CJEU, Communication (right of), European Union

(Institute for Information Law (IViR))/ /Leave a comment

A full summary of this case has been published on Kluwer IP Law and the case has been discussed on the Kluwer Copyright Blog here. The CJEU held that the price of a hotel room should not be regarded as an ‘entrance fee’ in relation to the exclusive right of broadcasters provided for in Article…