By Marine Strauss
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Google’s YouTube and other online platforms are not liable when users upload illegal copyrighted works onto their platforms but rightholders can ask for injunctions against the companies, a European Union Court of Justice adviser said on Thursday.
EU judges, who have followed such opinions in four out of five cases, rule on the issue in the coming months.
“As EU law currently stands, online platform operators, such as YouTube and Uploaded, are not directly liable for the illegal uploading of protected works by the users of those platforms,” Advocate General Saugmandsgaard said in a non-binding opinion relating to two cases before the court.
The cases are C-682/18 YouTube & C-683/18 Cyando.
(Reporting by Marine Strauss; Editing by Edmund Blair)
