Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber), 21 June 2012

Titus Alexander Jochen Donner

Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Bundesgerichtshof

Free movement of goods — Industrial and commercial property — Sale of copies of works in a Member State in which the copyright on those works is not protected — Transport of those goods to another Member State in which the infringement of the copyright is sanctioned under criminal law — Criminal proceedings against the transporter for aiding and abetting the unlawful distribution of a work protected by copyright law

Case C-5/11


Top of the page Documents in the Case
Document Date Name of the parties Subject-matter Curia EUR-Lex Autres Liens
Judgment (OJ)
03/08/2012 Donner
Judgment
ECLI:EU:C:2012:370
21/06/2012 Donner
Judgment (Summary)
ECLI:EU:C:2012:370
21/06/2012 Donner
Application (OJ)
02/04/2011 Donner
Opinion
ECLI:EU:C:2012:195
29/03/2012 Donner
Top of the page Legal analysis of the decision or of the case

Reports of Cases

published in the electronic Reports of Cases (Court Reports - general)

Subject-matter

Reference for a preliminary ruling – Bundesgerichtshof – Interpretation of Articles 34 and 36 TFEU – Free movement of goods – Industrial and commercial property – Sale of reproductions of works in a Member State in which the copyright on those works is not protected – Transport of those goods to another Member State in which the infringement of the copyright is sanctioned under criminal law – Situation in which the transfer of property to the purchaser was made in the Member State of origin and the transfer of the de facto power of disposal takes place in the State of destination – Criminal proceedings against the transporter for aiding and abetting the unlawful distribution of a work protected by copyright law

Systematic classification scheme

1.
4 Internal policy of the European Union
  4.11 Approximation of laws
    4.11.09 Harmonised intellectual property rights
      4.11.09.03 Copyright and related rights
4 Internal policy of the European Union
  4.02 Free movement of goods
    4.02.02 Prohibition of quantitative restrictions and measures having equivalent effect
      4.02.02.03 Derogations
        4.02.02.03.04 Protection of industrial and commercial property


Citations of case-law or legislation

References in grounds of judgment

Operative part

Opinion


Dates

Date of the lodging of the application initiating proceedings

  • 06/01/2011

Date of the Opinion

  • 29/03/2012

Date of the hearing

Information not available

Date of delivery

21/06/2012


References

Publication in the Official Journal

Application: OJ C 103 from 02.04.2011, p.14

Judgment: OJ C 250 from 18.08.2012, p.3

Name of the parties

Donner

Notes on Academic Writings

  1. Castellaneta, Marina: Sanzioni penali per tutelare il diritto d'autore compatibili con la libera circolazione dei beni, Guida al diritto 2012 nº 28 p.99-101 (IT)
  2. Costes, Lionel: Possibilité de restreindre la libre circulation des marchandises pour des raisons de protection du droit d'auteur, Droit de l'immatériel : informatique, médias, communication 2012 nº 84 p.13-14 (FR)
  3. Simon, Denys: Propriété industrielle et commerciale, Europe 2012 Août-Septembre Comm. nº 8-9 p.26 (FR)
  4. Sobotta, Christoph: Warenverkehrsfreiheit/Urheberrecht: Beihilfe zum unerlaubten Verbreiten urheberrechtlich geschützter Werke durch Spediteur, Europäische Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftsrecht 2012 p.665-666 (DE)
  5. Eichelberger, Jan: (Wieder-)Ausdehnung des urheberrechtlichen Verbreitungsrechts durch den EuGH?, Zeitschrift für Urheber- und Medienrecht 2012 p.954-959 (DE)
  6. Dumitraşcu, Augustina: Curtea de Justiție a Uniunii Europene. Hotărârea Curţii de Justiţie Europene din 21 iunie 2012, cauza nr. C-5/11, Curierul Judiciar 2012 p.504-505 (RO)
  7. Salung Petersen, Clement ; Riis, Thomas ; Schovsbo, Jens: Den ophavsretlige spredningsret og køb af kopivarer - Efter EU-Domstolens afgørelse i Donner-sagen, Ugeskrift for Retsvæsen B 2012 p.386-390 (DA)
  8. Lauterbach, Thorsten: Copyright law trumps free movement of unlawfully distributed goods, Journal of Intellectual Property Law and Practice 2013 p.13-15 (EN)
  9. Van Gompel, S.J.: AMI: Tijdschrift voor auteurs-, media & informatierecht 2013 p.118 (NL)
  10. Krook, Asa ; Langenskiöld, Katarina: On the application of cross-border distribution rights and free movement rules for cross-border sales, LANDMARK IP DECISIONS OF THE EUROPEAN COURT OF JUSTICE 2008-2013 (Ed. Larcier - Brussels) 2014 p.229-233 (EN)



Procedural Analysis Information

Source of the question referred for a preliminary ruling

Bundesgerichtshof - Germany

Subject-matter

  • Free movement of goods
  • - Quantitative restrictions
  • Freedom of establishment
  • Freedom to provide services
  • Approximation of laws
  • Intellectual, industrial and commercial property
  • - Copyright and related rights

Provisions of national law referred to

Urheberrechtsgesetz (UrhG), Paragraphen 17, 106 und 108a

Provisions of international law referred to

Information not available

Procedure and result

  • Reference for a preliminary ruling

Formation of the Court

quatrième chambre (Cour)

Judge-Rapporteur

Schiemann

Advocate General

Jääskinen

Language(s) of the Case

  • German

Language(s) of the Opinion

  • English