Reference for a preliminary ruling from Supreme Court of the United Kingdom made on 27 June 2013 – Public Relations Consultants Association Ltd v The Newspaper Licensing Agency Ltd and others

(Case C-360/13)

Language of the case: English

Referring court

Supreme Court of the United Kingdom

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Public Relations Consultants Association Ltd

Defendant: The Newspaper Licensing Agency Ltd and others

Questions referred

In circumstances where :

an end-user views a web-page without downloading, printing or otherwise setting out to make a copy of it ;

copies of that web-page are automatically made on screen and in the internet “cache” on the end-user’s hard disk;

the creation of those copies is indispensable to the technical processes involved in correct and efficient internet browsing;

the screen copy remains on screen until the end-user moves away from the relevant web-page, when it is automatically deleted by the normal operation of the computer;

the cached copy remains in the cache until it is overwritten by other material as the end-user views further web-pages, when it is automatically deleted by the normal operation of the computer; and

the copies are retained for no longer than the ordinary processes associated with internet use referred to at (iv) and (v) above continue;

Are such copies (i) temporary, (ii) transient or incidental and (iii) an integral and essential part of the technological process within the meaning of Article 5(1) of Directive 2001/29/EC¹ ?

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¹ 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

OJ L 167, p. 10