Playboy wins copyright battle over web links to its images

4 Min Read

Playboy won a legal fight to stop a website from posting links to images published without permission, a decision which can have far wider consequences across the Internet.

 

The European Union’s top court decided that posting such links infringes copyright when the website doing it was seeking to profit from pictures published without permission.

 

Sanoma, Playboy’s Dutch publisher had sought to get website GeenStijl, which described itself as one of the most visited news websites in the Netherlands.

To remove a web link to photos of a TV celebrity Britt Dekker were posted illegally.

 

“It is undisputed that GS Media (which owns GreenStijl) provided the hyperlinks to the files containing the photos for profit.

 

Sanoma had not authorised the publication of those photos on the internet,” the Luxembourg-based Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) said in a statement.

 

“When hyperlinks are posted for profit, it may be expected that the person who posted such a link should carry out the checks necessary to ensure that the work concerned is not illegally published.’’

 

GS Media said the ruling was a blow to press freedom.

 

“If commercial media companies such as GeenStijl can no longer freely and fearlessly hyperlink, it will be difficult to report on newsworthy new questions.

 

“There will be leaked information and internal struggles and unsecure networks in large companies,” it said on GeenStijl’s website.

 

The issue of hyper linking to photos and articles had become a divisive issue with the spread of the internet.

 

Content owners argued that the ease with which people can post links to copyrighted material on the internet infringes their rights while internet users said restricting people’s ability to post links goes against the principle of freedom of information.

 

According to them, it also restricts creativity works, an association representing publishers, film and music producers.

“Taking action against illegal sites is not about preventing access to creative content, but to protect consumers and stop pirates who do not contribute to Europe’s cultural diversity while making a business out of exploiting content that’s not theirs.”

 

The ECJ recognised that the internet “is of particular importance to freedom of expression and of information and that hyperlink contributed to its sound operation and to the exchange of opinions and information as well.”

 

Therefore it could be difficult for individuals posting such links to know if they are doing it legally, the court said.

 

However, if a person should have been aware because the owner informed him or he is doing it for profit, then the posting of a link infringes copyright law, the court added.

The European Commission, the EU Executive is set next week to propose tougher rules on publishing copyrighted content.

 

These include a new exclusive right for news publishers to ask search engines like Google to pay to show snippets of their articles. (Reuters/NAN)

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