Länkning till upphovsrättsligt skyddat material som publicerats utan tillstånd - En analys av rättsläget utifrån rättighetsinnehavarens perspektiv, med utgångspunkt i EU-domstolens avgörande i GS Media-målet (C-160/15)
(2017) LAGF03 20171Department of Law
Faculty of Law
- Abstract (Swedish)
- Denna uppsats övergripande syfte har varit att redogöra för och analysera gällande upphovsrätt i förhållande till tillhandahållandet av en länk som leder till olagligen publicerat material. Ämnet är högaktuellt då EU-domstolen så sent som i höstas meddelade en dom i det så kallade GS Media-målet, där denna typ av länkning behandlades för första gången.
Analysen har gjorts utifrån upphovsrättshavarens perspektiv. Det är nämligen dennes ensamrätt till överföring av det skyddade verket till allmänheten, som länkningsåtgärder i vissa fall kan riskeras inkräkta på. Denna ensamrätt garanteras i art. 3.1 i Infosocdirektivet. EU-domstolen har lämnat ett antal avgöranden avseende tolkningen av art. 3.1 i förhållande till länkning, varpå GS... (More) - Denna uppsats övergripande syfte har varit att redogöra för och analysera gällande upphovsrätt i förhållande till tillhandahållandet av en länk som leder till olagligen publicerat material. Ämnet är högaktuellt då EU-domstolen så sent som i höstas meddelade en dom i det så kallade GS Media-målet, där denna typ av länkning behandlades för första gången.
Analysen har gjorts utifrån upphovsrättshavarens perspektiv. Det är nämligen dennes ensamrätt till överföring av det skyddade verket till allmänheten, som länkningsåtgärder i vissa fall kan riskeras inkräkta på. Denna ensamrätt garanteras i art. 3.1 i Infosocdirektivet. EU-domstolen har lämnat ett antal avgöranden avseende tolkningen av art. 3.1 i förhållande till länkning, varpå GS Media-målet utgör det senaste i raden.
Efter genomgång av GS Media-målet är det möjligt att konstatera följande. För att en tillhandahållare av en länk som leder till olagligt material ska anses begått ett upphovsrättsligt intrång, krävs att denne har haft kännedom om olagligheten, alternativt borde ha haft sådan kännedom. Bevisbördan för denna omständighet ligger på rättighetsinnehavaren. Om länkaren visar sig ha ett vinstsyfte med tillhandahållandet omkastas däremot bevisbördan och det är då upp till länkaren att motbevisa att kännedom funnits. Detta innebär att det finns en presumtion om kännedom vid vinstsyfte. En definition av ”vinstsyfte” eller hur en sådan motbevisning kan se ut, presenterades dock inte av domstolen.
Önskvärt för upphovsrättshavare, hade naturligtvis varit att all länkning till olagligen publicerade verk utgjort ett intrång i ensamrätten. Upphovsrättshavarens intresse måste dock enligt EU-domstolen delvis stå tillbaka för andra rättigheter som länkar har viktig betydelse för, nämligen yttrande-och informationsfriheten. Samtidigt skapar presumtionen om kännedom vid vinstsyfte i praktiken en stor fördel till rättighetsinnehavaren. Min slutsats blir således att GS Media-domen innebär ett positivt besked för upphovsrättshavare, men att många oklarheter kring rättsläget fortfarande kvarstår. (Less) - Abstract
- This thesis investigates the regulation of copyright infringement, in relation to the provision of a link that leads to illegally published works. The topic is highly relevant, since the CJEU recently handed down a judgment in the so called GS Media case, where linking to work published without the consent of the rights holder, was assessed for the first time.
The analysis is written from a copyright owner's perspective. The rights of a copyright owner include the exclusive right to communicate the protected work to the public, which is guaranteed by art. 3.1 of the Infosoc Directive.. Providing of links to a protected work sometimes run the risk of infringing this exclusive right. The CJEU has made a number of decisions regarding the... (More) - This thesis investigates the regulation of copyright infringement, in relation to the provision of a link that leads to illegally published works. The topic is highly relevant, since the CJEU recently handed down a judgment in the so called GS Media case, where linking to work published without the consent of the rights holder, was assessed for the first time.
The analysis is written from a copyright owner's perspective. The rights of a copyright owner include the exclusive right to communicate the protected work to the public, which is guaranteed by art. 3.1 of the Infosoc Directive.. Providing of links to a protected work sometimes run the risk of infringing this exclusive right. The CJEU has made a number of decisions regarding the interpretation of art. 3.1 in relation to linking, whereupon the GS Media judgement is the most recent.
After an examination of the GS Media case, my conclusion is following. In order for a link leading to an illegal work to be considered a copyright infringement, the supplier of the link must have known or ought to have known that the link would provide accesss to such an illegal work. The burden-of-proof for this circumstance is on the right holder. However, if the person who published the link had an intention to pursue a profit with the linking, the burden of proof is reversed and it is up to this person to refute that knowledge has existed. This means a presumption of knowledge when sucha pursue of profit exists. However, what constitutes a “financial gain” and a given example of what a counterclaim to knowledge could look like, was not presented by the court.
For copyright owners, the most desirable outcome of the GS Media judgement would have been if the CJEU had stated that all linking to illegally published works constitutes an infringement of the communication right. The Court clarifies that the interests of the right holder in this case have to make way for the freedom of speech. Nonetheless, the presumption of knowledge when a pursue of profit exists, is clearly beneficial for the right holder in practice. Therefore, my final conclusion is that the GS Media judgement was quite favorable for the copyright owner, but also created a great deal of legal uncertainty. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/8907739
- author
- Arestad, Cecilia LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- LAGF03 20171
- year
- 2017
- type
- M2 - Bachelor Degree
- subject
- keywords
- Immaterialrätt, länkning, olagligt material, internet, upphovsrätt
- language
- Swedish
- id
- 8907739
- date added to LUP
- 2017-06-28 09:32:35
- date last changed
- 2017-06-28 09:32:35
@misc{8907739,
abstract = {{This thesis investigates the regulation of copyright infringement, in relation to the provision of a link that leads to illegally published works. The topic is highly relevant, since the CJEU recently handed down a judgment in the so called GS Media case, where linking to work published without the consent of the rights holder, was assessed for the first time.
The analysis is written from a copyright owner's perspective. The rights of a copyright owner include the exclusive right to communicate the protected work to the public, which is guaranteed by art. 3.1 of the Infosoc Directive.. Providing of links to a protected work sometimes run the risk of infringing this exclusive right. The CJEU has made a number of decisions regarding the interpretation of art. 3.1 in relation to linking, whereupon the GS Media judgement is the most recent.
After an examination of the GS Media case, my conclusion is following. In order for a link leading to an illegal work to be considered a copyright infringement, the supplier of the link must have known or ought to have known that the link would provide accesss to such an illegal work. The burden-of-proof for this circumstance is on the right holder. However, if the person who published the link had an intention to pursue a profit with the linking, the burden of proof is reversed and it is up to this person to refute that knowledge has existed. This means a presumption of knowledge when sucha pursue of profit exists. However, what constitutes a “financial gain” and a given example of what a counterclaim to knowledge could look like, was not presented by the court.
For copyright owners, the most desirable outcome of the GS Media judgement would have been if the CJEU had stated that all linking to illegally published works constitutes an infringement of the communication right. The Court clarifies that the interests of the right holder in this case have to make way for the freedom of speech. Nonetheless, the presumption of knowledge when a pursue of profit exists, is clearly beneficial for the right holder in practice. Therefore, my final conclusion is that the GS Media judgement was quite favorable for the copyright owner, but also created a great deal of legal uncertainty.}},
author = {{Arestad, Cecilia}},
language = {{swe}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Länkning till upphovsrättsligt skyddat material som publicerats utan tillstånd - En analys av rättsläget utifrån rättighetsinnehavarens perspektiv, med utgångspunkt i EU-domstolens avgörande i GS Media-målet (C-160/15)}},
year = {{2017}},
}