CJEU rules that linking can be restricted by contract, though only by using effective technological measures
Can a rightholder restrict linking by contract, eg by imposing the adoption of technological measures? This, in a nutshell, is the core issue at the heart of the referral to the Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in VG Bild-Kunst , C-392/19, which was decided this morning. The Court answered in the affirmative. The referred question was: Does the embedding of a work – which is available on a freely accessible website with the consent of the rightholder – in the website of a third party by way of framing constitute communication to the public of that work within the meaning of Article 3(1) of [the InfoSoc] Directive 2001/29/EC where it occurs through circumvention of protection measures against framing taken or instigated by the rightholder? The ruling is important because it addresses an issue that was left outstanding after a string of CJEU decisions, starting as early as the 2014 ruling in Svensson ...