German Supreme Court Hold Web Operators Not Liable for Linked Content

摘要

In a broad and expansive landmark decision, the German Federal Court of Justice (BGH) has reaffirming its relaxed stance toward third-party liability regarding hyperlinks, ruling that website operators are not necessarily liable for infringing content on others' webpages. In the case (I ZR 71/14), decided on June 18, 2015 and published Jan. 6, 2016, the court said website operators are not liable for third-party content that is simply connected to their websites via a hyperlink. They also ruled the operators are not responsible for periodically checking if the content remains legal over time. However, the court did note that providers could be held liable for hyperlinked content if the content was clearly infringing or if the operator was appropriating or somehow endorsing the third-party content in question.