Judgment in Case C-160/15 GS Media BV v Sanoma Media Netherlands BV, Playboy Enterprises International Inc., Britt Geertruida Dekker

On the 8 September 2016, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that the posting of a hyperlink on a website to works protected by copyright and published without the author’s consent on another website does not constitute a ‘communication to the public’ when the person who posts that link does not seek financial gain and acts without knowledge that those works have been published.

In contrast, if those hyperlinks are provided for profit, knowledge of the illegality of the publication on the other website must be presumed illegally. The concept ‘communication to the public’ had been specified by the Court in its earlier decision (see Case C-466/12 Svensson and Others below).

ESO: Background information: The owner of a website may, without the authorisation of the copyright holders, redirect internet users, via hyperlinks, to protected works available on a freely accessible basis on another site http://www.europeansources.info/record/press-release-the-owner-of-a-website-may-without-the-authorisation-of-the-copyright-holders-redirect-internet-users-via-hyperlinks-to-protected-works-available-on-a-freely-accessible-basis-on-ano/

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