Gs Media Too Its Implications For The Structure Of The Correct Of Communication To Earth Inside Eu Copyright Architecture: A Novel Article

In its 2016 conclusion in GS Media, C-160/15 the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) sought to clarify nether what weather condition the provision of a link to a run protected yesteryear copyright made available on a third-party website (where it is freely accessible) without a licence from the relevant rightholder falls inside the reach of the correct of communication to Earth inside Article 3(1) of the InfoSoc Directive.

In its conclusion the CJEU held that whether linking to unlicensed content falls inside or exterior the reach of Article 3(1) of the InfoSoc Directive depends – crucially – on whether the link provider has a profit-making intention or noesis of the unlicensed grapheme of the run linked to.

This new article of mine - which volition last published in Common Market Law Review - assesses the implications of the GS Media decision inward abide by of linking, too - to a greater extent than mostly - the structure of the correct of communication to the public.

The original conclusion is that GS Media imposes a re-consideration of what amounts to an human activeness of communication to the public. Yet, the forthcoming CJEU decisions inward pending references for a preliminary ruling (Filmspeler, C-527/15, and Ziggo, C-601/15) powerfulness atomic number 82 to a remain of the concept of 'indispensable intervention', therefore broadening the notion of who makes an human activeness of communication to the public.

Ultimately the give-and-take undertaken inward this contribution suggests that the concept of ‘communication to the public’ has been undergoing an evolution. The adjacent frontier for Article 3(1) of the InfoSoc Directive appears to last non simply a determination of what amounts to an human activeness of communication to the public, but too who makes an human activeness of communication to the public. The latter inward detail is the adjacent inquiry for the CJEU to tackle, too too poses pregnant – too non only worked out – challenges to European Union policy- too law-making.

The article can last accessed too downloaded here.