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To communicate, or not to communicate, that is the question – A Legal-Dogmatic Analysis of the Right of Communication to the Public under EU Copyright Law

Avramidis, Dimitrios LU (2025) HARN63 20251
Department of Business Law
Abstract
The exclusive economic right of communication to the public granted to authors in respect of their works, as enshrined in Article 3(1) of the Information Society Directive 2001/29/EC, has been the focal point of extensive litigation, surpassing any other provision within European Union (EU) copyright legislation. Undertaking legal dogmatic research, this thesis seeks to delineate the scope of Article 3(1) by drawing from international copyright treaties and an extensive corpus of EU case law provided by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) spanning from 2006 to 2024 on the basis of a thematic taxonomy distinguishing between “traditional” (offline) modes of transmission by satellite, cable, or terrestrial antenna, and digital... (More)
The exclusive economic right of communication to the public granted to authors in respect of their works, as enshrined in Article 3(1) of the Information Society Directive 2001/29/EC, has been the focal point of extensive litigation, surpassing any other provision within European Union (EU) copyright legislation. Undertaking legal dogmatic research, this thesis seeks to delineate the scope of Article 3(1) by drawing from international copyright treaties and an extensive corpus of EU case law provided by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) spanning from 2006 to 2024 on the basis of a thematic taxonomy distinguishing between “traditional” (offline) modes of transmission by satellite, cable, or terrestrial antenna, and digital (online) methods of communication facilitated through the Internet. The CJEU’s broad interpretation of the communication right, rooted in the objective of providing a high level of protection for authors – yet balanced against users’ fundamental rights and the general interest – and characterised by its non-exhaustive and preventive character in allowing authors to intervene and prohibit unauthorised communication by possible users, even after the initial lawful communication of their works, has led the CJEU to formulate a comprehensive framework, solidifying its place as a cornerstone of EU copyright law.

Through a rigorous analysis of 25 cases, the thesis concludes that the CJEU’s interpretation of the concept of ‘communication to the public’ – comprising two cumulative criteria: an ‘act of communication’ and the existence of a ‘public’ to which the communicative act is directed – has progressively encompassed various transmissions by wire or wireless means carried out by operators or proprietors of such establishments as hotels, pubs, café-restaurants, spa establishments, rehabilitation centres, as well as operators of public transport (e.g., aircrafts or trains), short term rental properties, and local cable networks via the use of television or radio sets, loudspeakers, or analogous devices. Furthermore, the provision under investigation extends to several digital practices such as live streaming over the Internet, hyperlinking (including framing), unauthorised reproductions of a protected work on another website, online sales of second-hand e-books, and activities on peer-to-peer file-sharing networks, video sharing and file-hosting platforms. (Less)
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author
Avramidis, Dimitrios LU
supervisor
organization
course
HARN63 20251
year
type
H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
subject
keywords
Right of communication to the public, EU copyright law, Article 3(1) of the Information Society Directive, international copyright law, Berne Convention, WIPO Copyright Treaty, legal dogmatic research
language
English
id
9194672
date added to LUP
2025-06-09 10:45:12
date last changed
2025-06-09 13:02:06
@misc{9194672,
  abstract     = {{The exclusive economic right of communication to the public granted to authors in respect of their works, as enshrined in Article 3(1) of the Information Society Directive 2001/29/EC, has been the focal point of extensive litigation, surpassing any other provision within European Union (EU) copyright legislation. Undertaking legal dogmatic research, this thesis seeks to delineate the scope of Article 3(1) by drawing from international copyright treaties and an extensive corpus of EU case law provided by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) spanning from 2006 to 2024 on the basis of a thematic taxonomy distinguishing between “traditional” (offline) modes of transmission by satellite, cable, or terrestrial antenna, and digital (online) methods of communication facilitated through the Internet. The CJEU’s broad interpretation of the communication right, rooted in the objective of providing a high level of protection for authors – yet balanced against users’ fundamental rights and the general interest – and characterised by its non-exhaustive and preventive character in allowing authors to intervene and prohibit unauthorised communication by possible users, even after the initial lawful communication of their works, has led the CJEU to formulate a comprehensive framework, solidifying its place as a cornerstone of EU copyright law.

Through a rigorous analysis of 25 cases, the thesis concludes that the CJEU’s interpretation of the concept of ‘communication to the public’ – comprising two cumulative criteria: an ‘act of communication’ and the existence of a ‘public’ to which the communicative act is directed – has progressively encompassed various transmissions by wire or wireless means carried out by operators or proprietors of such establishments as hotels, pubs, café-restaurants, spa establishments, rehabilitation centres, as well as operators of public transport (e.g., aircrafts or trains), short term rental properties, and local cable networks via the use of television or radio sets, loudspeakers, or analogous devices. Furthermore, the provision under investigation extends to several digital practices such as live streaming over the Internet, hyperlinking (including framing), unauthorised reproductions of a protected work on another website, online sales of second-hand e-books, and activities on peer-to-peer file-sharing networks, video sharing and file-hosting platforms.}},
  author       = {{Avramidis, Dimitrios}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{To communicate, or not to communicate, that is the question – A Legal-Dogmatic Analysis of the Right of Communication to the Public under EU Copyright Law}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}