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Is EU Copyright Law a Danger to Online Freedom of Expression?

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Book cover E-Democracy – Privacy-Preserving, Secure, Intelligent E-Government Services (e-Democracy 2017)

Part of the book series: Communications in Computer and Information Science ((CCIS,volume 792))

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Abstract

The present paper discusses recent evolutions in jurisprudence on online copyright law enforcement in Europe, emphasizing consequences for freedom of expression. It debates whether free speech is menaced by application of this case law. First, reference is made to the relevant case law at the European level. Secondly, the author refers to injunctions against intermediaries and concludes that the danger to freedom of expression has been identified and taken in account by the court. Finally, the author refers to the parallel jurisprudential evolution of copyright law related to hyperlinks and demonstrates that here the issue of freedom of expression has not been taken enough into consideration, something that may have disastrous consequences.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    P. Samuelson (2002), Copyright and freedom of expression in historical perspective, J. Intell. Prop. L., 10, 319.

  2. 2.

    ECtHR, 5 May 2011, Editorial Board of Pravoye Delo and Shtekel v. Ukraine, no. 33014/05.

  3. 3.

    ECtHR, 10 March 2009, Times Newspapers Ltd v. the United Kingdom (nos. 1 and 2), nos. 3002/03 and 23676/03, § 27.

  4. 4.

    Frank Larue (2011) Report to the UN Human Rights Council “exploring key trends and challenges to the right of all individuals to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds through the Internet.”

  5. 5.

    James Vincent (2016-07-04) UN condemns internet access disruption as a human rights violation, The Verge. Retrieved 2016-10-20.

  6. 6.

    N. Lucchi (2011) Access to Network Services and Protection of Constitutional Rights: Recognizing the Essential Role of Internet Access for the freedom of expression, Cardozo Journal of International and Comparative Law (JICL), Vol. 19, No. 3.

  7. 7.

    Ivar A. Hartmann (2013) A right to free internet? on internet access and social rights. 13 J. High Tech L. 297.

  8. 8.

    P.B. Hugenholtz, (2001) Copyright and freedom of expression in Europe. Expanding the boundaries of intellectual property: Innovation policy for the knowledge society, in: Rochelle Cooper Dreyfuss, Harry First and Diane Leenheer Zimmerman (eds.), Innovation Policy in an Information Age, Oxford: Oxford University Press 2000, 343.

  9. 9.

    Alfred C. Yen (1990) Restoring the natural law: Copyright as labor and possession, Ohio St. LJ, 51, 517.

  10. 10.

    Jack M. Balkin (2004) Digital speech and democratic culture: A theory of freedom of expression for the information society. NYUL rev., 79: 1.

  11. 11.

    ECtHR (5th section), 10 January 2013, case of Ashby Donald and others v. France, Appl. nr. 36769/08.

  12. 12.

    Dirk Voorhoof (2013) Copyright vs freedom of expression Judgment, available at echrblog.blogspot.com.cy.

  13. 13.

    Dirk Voorhoof, Inger Høedt-Rasmussen (2013) ECHR: Copyright vs. freedom of expression II (The Pirate Bay), available at http://kluwercopyrightblog.com.

  14. 14.

    Through the E-commerce Directive: Directive 2000/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2000 on certain legal aspects of information society services, in particular electronic commerce, in the Internal Market (‘Directive on electronic commerce’).

  15. 15.

    Sophie Stella Bourdillon (2012) Sometimes One Is Not Enough - Securing freedom of expression, Encouraging Private Regulation, or Subsidizing Internet Intermediaries or All Three at the Same Time: The Dilemma of Internet Intermediaries’ Liability, 7 J. Int’l Com. L. & Tech. 154.

  16. 16.

    Aleksandra Kuczerawy (2015) Intermediary liability & freedom of expression: Recent developments in the EU notice & action initiative, Computer Law & Security Review, Volume 31, Issue 1, February 2015, Pages 46–56.

  17. 17.

    See CJEU, Google France and Google v. Louis Vuitton case C-238/08, Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 23 March 2010; CJEU, L’Oréal SA and others v. eBay International AG, and others, case C-324/09, Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 12 July 2011.

  18. 18.

    Tatiana-Eleni Synodinou (2015) Intermediaries’ liability for online copyright infringement in the EU: Evolutions and confusions, Computer Law & Security Review, Volume 31, Issue 1, pages 57–67.

  19. 19.

    Article 13 of Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on copyright in the Digital Single Market – COM (2016) 593.

  20. 20.

    Christina Angelopoulos (2014) Are blocking injunctions against ISPs allowed in Europe? Copyright enforcement in the post-Telekabel EU legal landscape, Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, 9(10), 812–821.

  21. 21.

    The Article 13 (2) states that the safe harbor “shall not affect the possibility for a court or administrative authority, in accordance with Member States’ legal systems, of requiring the service provider to terminate or prevent an infringement.”

  22. 22.

    Martin Husovec, Miquel Peguera (2014) Much Ado about Little – Privately Litigated Internet Disconnection Injunctions. IIC - International Review of Intellectual Property and Competition Law, Volume 46, Issue 1, pp 10–37.

  23. 23.

    Irish High Court, Sony v UPC Communications Ireland Limited, 27 March 2015.

  24. 24.

    Directive 2004/48/EC on the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights.

  25. 25.

    Article 9 and 11 of the Directive.

  26. 26.

    CJUE, Productores de Música de España (Promusicae) v. Telefónica de España SAU, case C-275/06, Judgement of 29 January 2008; CJUE, Sabam v Scarlet, case C-70/10, Judgement of 24 November 2011.

  27. 27.

    CJUE, UPC Telekabel Wien v Constantin Film Verleih GmbH, Wega Filmproduktionsgesellschaft mbH, case C-314/12, Judgement of 27 March 2014.

  28. 28.

    Par.63 of the Decision.

  29. 29.

    CJUE, case C-484/14, Tobias Mc Fadden v Sony Music Entertainment, Judgement of 15 September 2016.

  30. 30.

    ECHR, Delfi v Estonia, app no 64569/09, 10 October 2013; ECHR, Delfi v Estonia, app no 64569/09, 16 June 2015.

  31. 31.

    ECHR, Rolf Anders Daniel PIHL against Sweden, 9 March 2017, Application no 74742/14.

  32. 32.

    ECHR, Magyar Tartalomszolgáltatók Egyesülete and Index.hu Zrt v. Hungary, 2 February 2016, app no. 22947/13.

  33. 33.

    Directive 2001/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2001 on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society.

  34. 34.

    CJUE, Sociedad General de Autores y Editores de España (SGAE) v Rafael Hoteles SA, C-306/05, Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 7 December 2006.

  35. 35.

    CJUE, ITV Broadcasting Limited and others v TV Catchup Limited and others, Case C‑607/11, Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber) 7 March 2013.

  36. 36.

    CJUE, Nils Svensson, Sten Sjögren, Madelaine Sahlman, Pia Gadd v Retriever Sverige AB, case C-466/12, Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber) of 13 February 2014.

  37. 37.

    CJUE, GS Media BV v Sanoma Media Netherlands BV, Playboy Enterprises International Inc., Britt Geertruida Dekker, case C-160/15, Judgement of 8 September 2016.

  38. 38.

    CJUE, BestWater International GmbH v Michael Mebes, Stefan Potsch, case C-348/13, Order of the Court (Ninth Chamber) of 21 October 2014.

  39. 39.

    CJUE, Stichting Brein v Jack Frederik Wullems, case C-527/15, Judgment of 26 March of 2017.

  40. 40.

    CJUE, Stichting Brein v Ziggo, case C-610/15 (also known as The Pirate Bay case), Judgement of 14 June 2017.

  41. 41.

    C. Geiger & E. Izyumenko (2014) Copyright on the human rights’ trial: redefining the boundaries of exclusivity through freedom of expression, IIC-International Review of Intellectual Property and Competition Law, 3(45), 316–342.

References

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    Article  Google Scholar 

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    Google Scholar 

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    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. James, V.: UN condemns internet access disruption as a human rights violation, The Verge, 04 Jul 2016. Accessed 20 Oct 2016

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  9. Kuczerawy, A.: Intermediary liability & freedom of expression: recent developments in the EU notice & action initiative. Comput. Law Secur. Rev. 31(1), 46–56 (2015)

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  10. Larue, F.: Report to the UN Human Rights Council “exploring key trends and challenges to the right of all individuals to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds through the Internet.” (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  11. Lucchi, N.: Access to network services and protection of constitutional rights: recognizing the essential role of internet access for the freedom of expression. Cardozo J. Int. Comp. Law (JICL), 19(3) (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Samuelson, P.: Copyright and freedom of expression in historical perspective. J. Intell. Prop. L. 10, 319 (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Synodinou, T.-E.: Intermediaries’ liability for online copyright infringement in the EU: evolutions and confusions. Comput. Law Secur. Rev. 31(1), 57–67 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Voorhoof, D.: Copyright vs freedom of expression Judgment (2013). echrblog.blogspot.com.cy

  15. Voorhoof, D., Høedt-Rasmussen, I.: ECHR: copyright vs. freedom of expression II (The Pirate Bay). (2013). http://kluwercopyrightblog.com

  16. Yen, Alfred C.: Restoring the natural law: copyright as labor and possession. Ohio St. LJ 51, 517 (1990)

    Google Scholar 

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. European University Cyprus, 6 Diogenous St., Engomi, 2404, Cyprus

    Philippe Jougleux

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  1. Philippe Jougleux
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Correspondence to Philippe Jougleux .

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  1. Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Gjøvik, Norway

    Sokratis K. Katsikas

  2. Data Protection Authority, Athens, Greece

    Vasilios Zorkadis

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Jougleux, P. (2017). Is EU Copyright Law a Danger to Online Freedom of Expression?. In: Katsikas, S., Zorkadis, V. (eds) E-Democracy – Privacy-Preserving, Secure, Intelligent E-Government Services. e-Democracy 2017. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 792. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71117-1_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71117-1_9

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