Dutch weblog GeenStijl sued for linking to Britt Dekker’s Playboy pictures

Publisher Sanoma, Playboy and Britt Dekker started a lawsuit against weblog GeenStijl for linking to leaked Playboy pictures of Britt. Late October, GeenStijl posted an article about the leaked pictures and linked to a file containing the pictures. GeenStijl refused Playboy's request to remove the links. Now, Sanoma, Playboy and Britt Dekker sue GeenStijl for copyright infringements.

According to Sanoma, Playboy and Britt, GeenStijl infringed copyrights by placing links to the leaked pictures. The plaintiffs claim GeenStijl revealed the pictures without their permission by placing links to the pictures on their website. However, GeenStijl explained they never possessed the pictures, they only got a tip of someone who uploaded to pictures from the website called FileFactory. In addition, GeenStijl claims that linking to files with illegal content is not illegal.

However, the plaintiffs’ lawyers said in general no doctrine exists that states linking would be irrelevant for copyrights. Furthermore, the plaintiffs claim that GeenStijl consciously benefited from the link, because the pictures attracted more visitors to their site. As a result of the leaked pictures, Sanoma and Playboy lost revenues because fewer people bought Playboy. According to the writ of summons, Playboy lost more than one hundred thousand euro’s because Britt’s pictures were leaked prematurely.

Worldwide opinions vary on whether linking to files with copyright protected content is illegal. Previously, we reported that a Spanish Court decided linking to illegal content can actually be seen as publishing someone else's work. On the other hand, the Canadian Supreme Court decided that a person who "only" refers to hyperlinks with illegal content is not solely responsible for the disclosure of damaging information. It is interesting to see what the court will decide in this case against GeenStijl. On December 28, both parties appear before the Court in Amsterdam.

Reference: Webwereld

By: Karen Groen