ECJ: No Copyright Infringement If Hyperlinking Does Not Reach A New Public

Introduction

On 13 February, the Court of Justice of the European Union (hereinafter the "Court") rendered an important judgment on the scope of legitimate hyperlinking. Hyperlinking to protected works that are already freely accessible on another website does not constitute copyright infringement by the hyperlinking party because the works are not made available to a new public. The Court ruled that it is irrelevant in this respect if the hyperlinking party gives the impression that the work is appearing on its own website when the work in fact comes from another website. The case at hand is Svensson et al./RetrieverSverige and is the most recent in the following line of judgments: SGAE, Football Association Premier League and ITV Broadcasting.

Hyperlinks are very common in today's online world. A hyperlink gives the user of a site access to additional content by clicking on the link. This access is either direct - clicking on the link causes the user to be redirected to another website - or indirect through the intervention of the hyperlinking party...