The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has just delivered an important judgment concerning copyright and content published on social media (Case C-598/24, CY v. Gândul Media Network SRL and HO).
The dispute arose after a teacher posted a twenty-two-line text on Facebook expressing her views on the practice of giving gifts to teachers at the beginning of the school year. A few days later, an online newspaper reproduced the text in full without her consent.
The CJEU confirms a well-established principle: a text published on a social network may constitute a copyright-protected “work”, provided that it is original, that is, that it constitutes the author’s own intellectual creation and reflects the author’s personality through free and creative choices. For these purposes, the length of the text, the medium through which it is published or disseminated, such as the Internet, or whether or not it belongs to a particular literary genre are not decisive for obtaining protection. As we already know, what matters is its originality.
Perhaps the most significant aspect of the judgment, however, is the CJEU’s analysis of the exception allowing protected works to be used for the purpose of reporting current events and, more specifically, the limits that Member States may impose on its application.
The CJEU considers that Member States may limit this exception to the reproduction of short extracts, provided that such a limitation complies with the principle of proportionality and preserves the effectiveness of the exception and its purpose of informing the public. This possibility is particularly relevant where the work being reproduced is itself a short text.
However, the Court establishes an important limit: Member States cannot generally exclude the application of this exception where the media outlet obtains a commercial or economic benefit. The CJEU takes into account that the media, in addition to performing an informative function, carry out an economic activity that is necessary for their operation. Automatically excluding the exception because an economic benefit is obtained would undermine its effectiveness and upset the balance between the protection of intellectual property and the freedoms of expression, information and the press.
The judgment is particularly relevant in a context in which original content published on social media is routinely reproduced by media outlets and other digital platforms. The CJEU confirms that publishing content on a social network does not, in itself, deprive it of any copyright protection to which it may be entitled. Its reproduction by third parties must therefore be authorised by the rights holder where the content meets the requirements to qualify as a protected work, unless such use falls within one of the limitations or exceptions provided for by applicable copyright law.
Rubén Canales
Lawyer
