BRUSSELS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th July, 2020) Online platforms such as YouTube are not directly responsible for copyright infringement by their users, according to the findings of the Advocate General of the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, published on Thursday.
The EU Court is considering a number of cases related to complaints from copyright holders for the publication of content that violates copyright law.
Platforms such as YouTube "are not directly liable for the illegal uploading of protected works by the users of those platforms," the document says.
In particular, the ruling points out that content automatically appears on the platform after it is uploaded, so the content cannot be identified as illegal before publication.
At the same time, in the opinion of the Advocate General of the Court of Justice of the EU, rights-holders should be able to request the removal of publication if it is found that third parties are violating their rights.
The findings of the Advocate General are not binding on the Court of Justice. Its task is to independently prepare an opinion. The judges will take the opinion into consideration when reaching decisions on a number of cases involving intellectual property and digital communications technology.
