14 FEBRUARY 2014
The European Court Of Justice has ruled that "freely available" copyrighted material may legally be linked to by third parties without fear of copyright infringement.
The decision, which is binding in Ireland and across the European Union, means that newspaper copyrighted content companies may no longer be able to sue organisations that post clickable web links to their articles, songs or videos.
The ruling applies to web links that connect to content which is already freely accessible on other websites.
However, the court said that the ruling did not apply to "restricted" content, such as newspaper articles that are only normally accessible behind a paywall or subscription service.
The European Court Of Justice has ruled that "freely available" copyrighted material may legally be linked to by third parties without fear of copyright infringement.
The decision, which is binding in Ireland and across the European Union, means that newspaper copyrighted content companies may no longer be able to sue organisations that post clickable web links to their articles, songs or videos.
The ruling applies to web links that connect to content which is already freely accessible on other websites.
However, the court said that the ruling did not apply to "restricted" content, such as newspaper articles that are only normally accessible behind a paywall or subscription service.
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