CJEU Case C-149/17 / Opinion

Bastei Lübbe GmbH & Co. KG v Michael Strotzer.
Policy area
Information society
Deciding body type
Court of Justice of the European Union
Deciding body
Advocate General
Type
Opinion
Decision date
06/06/2018
ECLI (European case law identifier)
ECLI:EU:C:2018:400
  • CJEU Case C-149/17 / Opinion

    Key facts of the case:

    Reference for a preliminary ruling — Copyright and related rights — Directive 2001/29/EC — Enforcement of intellectual property rights — Directive 2004/48/EC — Compensation in the event of file-sharing in breach of copyright — Internet connection accessible by members of the owner’s family — Exemption from liability of the owner without the need to specify the nature of the use of the connection by the family member — Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union — Article 7.

    Outcome of the case:

    In the light of the foregoing, I propose that the Court should answer the questions for a preliminary ruling referred by the Landgericht München I (Regional Court, Munich I, Germany) as follows:

    Article 8(2) of Directive 2001/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2001 on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society and Article 13(1) of Directive 2004/48/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on the enforcement of intellectual property rights must be interpreted as meaning that they do not require the introduction into the domestic laws of the Member States of a presumption that the holders of an internet connection are liable for infringements of copyright committed by means of that connection. However, if domestic law provides for such a presumption in order to ensure the protection of those rights, that presumption must be applied consistently in order to ensure the effectiveness of that protection. The right to respect for family life, recognised in Article 7 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, cannot be interpreted in such a way as to deprive rightholders of any real possibility of protecting their right to intellectual property enshrined in Article 17(2) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights.