Playboy Can Block Links to Celebrity Pictures, EU Court Says
Playboy’s Dutch publisher can stop a news and entertainment website from posting links to its images without permission, a top European Union court said in a ruling that could reverberate across the internet.
The European Court of Justice in Luxembourg said GeenStijl, owned by GS Media, broke copyright laws when it published links to pictures of TV personality Britt Dekker without the permission of Sanoma Oyj’s Dutch unit, which runs Playboy in the Netherlands.
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Thursday’s decision comes days before the EU regulators are poised to unveil tough new rules governing online copyright.
“While the European Commission is set to unveil its copyright package next week, this case shows that the freedom to hyperlink is under attack,” said Jakob Kucharczyk, director of CCIA Europe, a computer and communications trade group.
“We remain convinced that hyperlinks are better understood as mere road signs on our internet highways,” he said. “They should have nothing to do with copyright law. The Court missed the opportunity to clarify that once and for all.”
