The Dutch news website GeenStijl has won a copyright case against de Nijmeegse Stadkrant. The newspaper from Nijmegen had published an interview with an alderman. In the interview the alderman unsubtly expressed his opinion about a reporter of GeenStijl (loosely translated: "I would have kicked that bastard’s ass”). GeenStijl placed a hyperlink to a scan of the interview on its website. The newspaper from Nijmegen was not amused, and accused GeenStijl of copyright infringement. In the proceedings before the subdistrict court of Amsterdam GeenStijl argued that publishing the interview fell under the protection of the press exception. Briefly put, the press exception entails that a medium of the press is – to some extent – at liberty to copy messages from other news media. The court ruled in favour of the news website. Publishing the interview did not qualify as a copyright violation. The case is somewhat remarkable because the court (in my opinion wrongfully) holds that an interview is to be regarded as a press release – and not as an article. With regard to articles, copyright can be reserved in which case the press exception cannot be successfully invoked. However, correct classification of the interview would not have changed the outcome of the case. The Nijmegen newspaper had not made a copyright reservation. By the way: all rights reserved on this article. Read the judgment here (in Dutch).
Daniel Haije
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The Dutch news website GeenStijl has won a copyright case against de Nijmeegse Stadkrant. The newspaper from Nijmegen had published an interview with an alderman. In the interview the alderman unsubtly expressed his opinion about a reporter of GeenStijl (loosely translated: "I would have kicked that bastard’s ass”). GeenStijl placed a hyperlink to a scan of the interview on its website. The newspaper from Nijmegen was not amused, and accused GeenStijl of copyright infringement. In the proceedings before the subdistrict court of Amsterdam GeenStijl argued that publishing the interview fell under the protection of the press exception. Briefly put, the press exception entails that a medium of the press is – to some extent – at liberty to copy messages from other news media. The court ruled in favour of the news website. Publishing the interview did not qualify as a copyright violation. The case is somewhat remarkable because the court (in my opinion wrongfully) holds that an interview is to be regarded as a press release – and not as an article. With regard to articles, copyright can be reserved in which case the press exception cannot be successfully invoked. However, correct classification of the interview would not have changed the outcome of the case. The Nijmegen newspaper had not made a copyright reservation. By the way: all rights reserved on this article. Read the judgment here (in Dutch).
Daniel Haije