Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber) of 7 March 2013 (request for a preliminary ruling from the High Court of Justice (Chancery Division) - United Kingdom) - ITV Broadcasting Limited and Others v TVCatchup Limited
(Case C-607/11)
(Directive 2001/29/EC - Article 3(1) - Broadcasting by a third party over the internet of signals of commercial television broadcasters - 'Live streaming' - Communication to the public)
Language of the case: English
Referring court
High Court of Justice (Chancery Division)
Parties to the main proceedings
Applicants: ITV Broadcasting Ltd, ITV 2 Ltd, ITV Digital Channels Ltd, Channel 4 Television Corporation, 4 Ventures Ltd, Channel 5 Broadcasting Ltd, ITV Studios Ltd
Defendant: TVCatchup Ltd
Re:
Request for a preliminary ruling - High Court of Justice (Chancery Division) - Interpretation of Article 3(1) 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 (OJ 2001 L 167, p. 10) - Concept of 'communication to the public' - Authorisation, by right holders, of the television broadcasting of their works on the free terrestrial network covering either the whole territory of a Member State or a limited geographical area within that Member State - Continuous transmission service, operated by a third party broadcaster, available to individual subscribers who have paid the television licence fee, meaning that those subscribers can receive the programmes live via video streams on the internet
Operative part of the judgment
The concept of 'communication to the public', within the meaning of Article 3(1) 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 it covers a retransmission of the works included in a terrestrial television broadcast
where the retransmission is made by an organisation other than the original broadcaster,
by means of an internet stream made available to the subscribers of that other organisation who may receive that retransmission by logging on to its server,
even though those subscribers are within the area of reception of that terrestrial television broadcast and may lawfully receive the broadcast on a television receiver.
The answer to Question 1 is not influenced by the fact that a retransmission, such as that at issue in the main proceedings, is funded by advertising and is therefore of a profit-making nature.
The answer to Question 1 is not influenced by the fact that a retransmission, such as that at issue in the main proceedings, is made by an organisation which is acting in direct competition with the original broadcaster.
____________1 - OJ C 65, 3.3.2012.