European court rules hyperlinking can infringe copyright
In a ruling which could have widespread implications for internet users the European Union Court of Justice has decreed that hyperlinking can infringe on copyright.
The decision vindicates action by Sanoma Media, the Dutch publisher of Playboy which complained that its photos had been uploaded to a file sharing site without its permission and subsequently publicised by the website GreenStijl which posted links to the material in question as well as a crop of one photo.
The October 2011 incident then escalated when GreenStijl refused a takedown request from Sanoma which subsequently sued its parent company GS Media.
In its ruling the court said: “Member States shall provide authors with the exclusive right to authorise or prohibit any communication to the public of their works, by wire or wireless means, including the making available to the public of their works in such a way that members of the public may access them from a place and at a time individually chosen by them.”
There are some caveats to the ruling however, principally safeguards for freedom of expression for those not seeking to profit or if the uploader cannot reasonably know that what they’re publishing doesn’t have consent.
On the other hand if it is known that content has been posted illegally and a website stands to profit from the resulting traffic then they would be in violation of the law.