CJEU Removes Threat Hanging Over Internet Users

By Joséphine De Ruyck for Intellectual Property Watch

Thanks to the latest ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on a long-standing copyright case, millions of internet users across the EU can keep calm and carry on browsing websites.

Yesterday, the CJEU in PRCA v NLA (C-360/13) confirmed the provisional decision of the UK Supreme Court in April 2013 that people who browse the internet – without downloading, printing or storing – do not need permission from the copyright holder because browsing falls under the temporary copying exemption of Article 5.1 of the Information Society Directive (2001/29/EC).

As the CJEU concluded that “the copies on the user’s computer screen and the copies in the internet ‘cache’ of that computer’s hard disk, made by an end-user in the course of viewing a website” met the conditions laid down in Article 5.1 as well as Article 5.5 of the directive and “they may therefore be made without the authorisation of the copyright holders.”

In supporting this decision, Jakob Kucharczyk, director of Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) in Brussels, highlighted that “any other ruling would essentially mess up the Internet for European citizens and undermine the efforts to enable European technology companies to expand in the Internet economy,” according to a press release.