EU Court: Passing on copies of TV programs stored online requires permission

The European Court of Justice has ruled that copies of television programs stored on servers may only be made available to third parties with the consent of the rightholder.

The case concerned the company Vcast, which records programs from Italian television broadcasters with its own system and stores them online, so that customers can watch the copies of the broadcasts as a stream. Vcast hoped this was legal under the private copy copyright exception, but the Court disagreed.

According to the Court of Appeal, Vcast’s service is aimed at its own audience, which means that it must be seen as a different communication to the public than was the case with the original broadcast. The rightholder must give his consent for this and a service that records videos remotely cannot fall under the exception.

According to the Court of Justice, the service that Vcast offers is a communication to the public. According to the judge, this criterion must be interpreted broadly, so that every transfer or retransmission, both via cables and wireless, falls under it.

In this case, the Court of Justice follows the advice of Advocate General Maciej Szpunar, who previously ruled that the exception for copies for personal use does not apply in this case.