The Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled that the 2019 reform of copyright and related rights strikes a fair balance between the protection of protected works and freedom of expression (see EUROPE 12222/6), thereby rejecting the action brought by Poland, in a judgment handed down on Tuesday 26 April (case C-401/19).
In the name of the freedom of expression and information guaranteed by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (Article 11), Poland brought an action against Article 17 of Directive 2019/790 on copyright and related rights in the digital single market, which lays down the principle that providers of online content-sharing services are directly liable when protected works are uploaded by users.
To be exempt from such liability, providers are required to actively monitor uploaded content in advance by means of automatic recognition and filtering tools.
Based on the opinion of the Advocate General (see EUROPE 12763/11), the Court dismisses Poland’s action.
First of all, the European Court recognises that the liability regime established by the Directive entails a limitation on the exercise of the right to freedom of expression and information of users of content-sharing services.
However, it believes that the EU legislature has set a clear and precise limit to the measures that can be taken by excluding, in particular, measures that filter and block lawful content.
Users of online content-sharing services are also allowed to upload content they generate themselves for the purpose of parody or pastiche. They should also be informed by service providers of the possibility of using protected works under the exceptions or limitations to copyright provided for in EU law.
The Court added that the application of Article 17 of the Directive does not give rise to any general monitoring obligation. Service providers are not obliged to prevent the uploading and making available to the public of content whose unlawfulness would require them to make an independent assessment of the content in the light of the information provided by the rightholders and any exceptions and limitations to copyright.
Finally, it adds, the Directive introduces a number of procedural safeguards that protect the right to freedom of expression and information when service providers mistakenly or unjustifiably block lawful content.
The Court concludes that the obligation to carry out prior review of content which users wish to put online is accompanied by appropriate safeguards to ensure respect for the right to freedom of expression and information and the balance between that right and intellectual property rights.
See the judgment: https://aeur.eu/f/1dd (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)