IPPT20111201, CJEU, Painer v Standard

21-01-2012 Print this page
IPPT20111201

COPYRIGHT – LITIGATION – PRIVATE INTERNATIONAL LAW

 

Connected claims: risk of irreconcilable judgments
• Article 6(1) of Regulation No 44/2001 must be interpreted as not precluding its application solely because actions against several defendants for substantially identical copyright infringements are brought on national legal grounds which vary according to the Member States concerned. It is for the referring court to assess, in the light of all the elements of the case, whether there is a risk of ir-reconcilable judgments if those actions were deter-mined separately.

 

Intellectual creation and scope of protection: portrait photograph
• Article 6 of Directive 93/98 must be interpreted as meaning that a portrait photograph can, under that provision, be protected by copyright if, which it is for the national court to determine in each case, such photograph is an intellectual creation of the author reflecting his personality and expressing his free and creative choices in the production of that photograph.
• Since it has been determined that the portrait photograph in question is a work, its protection is not inferior to that enjoyed by any other work, including other photographic works.

 

Newspaper publisher  may not use of their own volition a work protected by copyright by invoking an objective of public security
• Article 5(3)(e) of Directive 2001/29, read in the light of Article 5(5) of that directive, must be interpreted as meaning that the media, such as newspaper publishers, may not use, of their own volition, a work protected by copyright by invoking an objective of public security. However, it is conceivable that a newspaper publisher might, in specific cases, contribute to the fulfillment of such an objective by publishing a photograph of a person for whom a search has been launched. It should be required that such initiative is taken, first, within the framework of a decision or action taken by the competent national authorities to ensure public security and, second, by agreement and in coordination with those authorities, in order to avoid the risk of interfering with the measures taken by them, without, however, a specific, current and express appeal, on the part of the security authorities, for publication of a photograph for the purposes of an investigation being necessary.

 

Right to quote: not required that press report quoting a work is itself protected by copyright
In the light of all the foregoing considerations, the answer to question 2(a) is that Article 5(3)(d) of Directive 2001/29, read in the light of Article 5(5) of that directive, must be interpreted as not precluding its application where a press report quoting a work or other protected subject-matter is not a literary work protected by copyright.

 

Right to quote: obligation to indicate the source, including the name of the author or performer
that Article 5(3)(d) of Directive 2001/29, read in the light of Article 5(5) of that directive, must be interpreted as meaning that its application is subject to the obligation to indicate the source, including the name of the author or performer, of the work or other protected subject-matter quoted. However, if, in applying Article 5(3)(e) of Directive 2001/29, that name was not indicated, that obligation must be regarded as having been fulfilled if the source alone is indicated.


IPPT20111201, CJEU, Painer v Standard