Language of document :

Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber) of 22 January 2015 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Hoge Raad der Nederlanden — Netherlands) — Art & Allposters International BV v Stichting Pictoright

(Case C-419/13) 1

(Reference for a preliminary ruling — Intellectual property — Copyright and related rights — Directive 2001/29/EC — Article 4 — Distribution right — Exhaustion rule — Concept of ‘object’ — Transfer of the image of a protected work from a paper poster to a painter’s canvas — Replacement of the medium — Impact on exhaustion)

Language of the case: Dutch

Referring court

Hoge Raad der Nederlanden

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Art & Allposters International BV

Defendant: Stichting Pictoright

Operative part of the judgment

Article 4(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 must be interpreted as meaning that the rule of exhaustion of the distribution right set out in Article 4(2) of Directive 2001/29 does not apply in a situation where a reproduction of a protected work, after having been marketed in the European Union with the copyright holder’s consent, has undergone an alteration of its medium, such as the transfer of that reproduction from a paper poster onto a canvas, and is placed on the market again in its new form.

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1 OJ C 325, 9.11.2013.