CJEU: Upload in peer-to-peernetwork constitutes "making available to the public"
18-06-2021 Print this page
Uploading previously downloaded media file containing a protected work by a user to the terminal equipment of another user constitutes making available to the public: users peer-to-peer network have knowledge of granting access to protected works to an indeterminate number of potential recipients. Holders of IP rights who only want to claim damages can make use of measures, procedures and remedies from the Enforcement Directive: to ensure a high level of protection of IP rights in the internal market. Article 6 GDPR does not, in principle, preclude the systematic processing of IP addresses of users of peer-to-peer networks in the event of infringing acts: the recovery of claims in the prescribed manner by an assignee may constitute a legitimate interest.
From the press release: "In the first place, the Court, which has already ruled on the concept of ‘communication to the public’ in the context of copyright protection, clarifies that the uploading of pieces, previously downloaded, of a media file containing a protected work using a peer-to-peer network constitutes ‘making [a work] available to the public’ [...]
In the second place, the Court considers that the holder of intellectual property rights, such as Mircom, which acquired those rights by assigning claims and does not use them, but seeks damages from alleged infringers, may, in principle, benefit from the measures, procedures and remedies provided for by EU law, unless that holder’s claim is abusive. [...]
In the third place, the Court holds that EU law does not preclude, in principle, the systematic registration, by the holder of intellectual property rights or by a third party on his or her behalf, of IP addresses of users of peer-to-peer networks whose internet connections have allegedly been used in infringing activities (upstream processing of data), or [...]"
Read the full press release here.
IPPT20210617, CJEU, Mircom v Telenet BVBA
