Abstract

The commented judgment resolved the dispute concerning placing hyperlinks on websites. In the past, a party placing a hyperlink on a website could reckon with the possibility of becoming liable for infringement of copyright. Currently, according to the European Court of Law placing hyperlinks does not violate these rights. However, several conditions must be fulfilled - the hyperlinked work should be freely available on the primary website, and such reference does not lead to circumventing restrictions applied by the primary website. Member States may not, at the same time, provide greater protection to copyright holders than that arising from Directive 2001/29. Still unresolved is the issue of a situation whereby a hyperlinked copyrighted work has been placed on the primary website illegally and infringes copyright - does the party placing a hyperlink violate the law as well? It may be expected that in the near future the European Court of Law will face the need to answer also this question.