Request for a preliminary ruling from the Rechtbank Midden-Nederland (Netherlands) lodged on 5 October 2015 — Stichting Brein v Jack Frederik Wullems, currently trading under the name Filmspeler
(Case C-527/15)
Language of the case: Dutch
Referring court
Rechtbank Midden-Nederland
Parties to the main proceedings
Applicant: Stichting Brein
Defendant: Jack Frederik Wullems, currently trading under the name Filmspeler
Questions referred
Must Article 3(1) of the Copyright Directive 1 be interpreted as meaning that there is ‘a communication to the public’ within the meaning of that provision, when someone sells a product (mediaplayer) in which he has installed add-ons containing hyperlinks to websites on which copyright-protected works, such as films, series and live broadcasts are made directly accessible, without the authorisation of the right holders?
Does it make any difference
- whether the copyright-protected works as a whole have not previously been published on the internet or have only been published through subscriptions with the authorisation of the right holder?
- whether the add-ons containing hyperlinks to websites on which copyright-protected works are made directly accessible without the authorisation of the right holders are freely available and can also be installed in the mediaplayer by the users themselves?
- whether the websites and thus the copyright-protected works made accessible thereon — without the authorisation of the right holders — can also be accessed by the public without the mediaplayer?
Should Article 5 of the Copyright Directive (Directive 2001/29/EC) be interpreted as meaning that there is no ‘lawful use’ within the meaning of Article 5(1)(b) of that Directive if a temporary reproduction is made by an end user during the streaming of a copyright-protected work from a third-party website where that copyright-protected work is offered without the authorisation of the right holder(s)?
If the answer to question 1) is in the negative, is the making of a temporary reproduction by an end user during the streaming of a copyright-protected work from a website where that copyright-protected work is offered without the authorisation of the right holder(s) then contrary to the ‘three-step test’ referred to in Article 5(5) of the Copyright Directive (Directive 2001/29/EC)?
____________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 2001 L 167, p. 10).