IP Update – Copyright

NILS SVENSSON, STEN SJÖGREN, MADELAINE SAHLMAN, PIA GADD V RETRIEVER SVERIGE AB, CJEU, CASE C-466/12, OJ 2012 C379/19 [SVENSSON]

A recent decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union "("CJEU") has brought some clarity in respect of whether providing a 'clickable link' falls within the scope of copyright protection and whether providing a hyperlink constitutes an act of communication to the public pursuant to the Information Society Directive that is subject to the authorisation of the copyright holder.

Background and Issues

The applicants in these proceedings were journalists who wrote articles published in the Swedish Göteborgs-Posten newspaper and on its website. They brought unsuccessful action in the Stockholm District Court against Retriever Sverige, a company which operates a website containing hyperlinks to articles published on other websites, including links to articles in which the applicants held copyright. The applicants claimed that