Referral C-788/24 (Anne Frank Fonds, 14 Nov 2024)

(1) Is Article 3(1) of the Copyright Directive to be interpreted as meaning that the publication of a work on the internet is only to be regarded as a communication to the public in a particular country if the publication is addressed to the public in that country? If so, what factors must be considered in assessing that?

(2) Can there be a communication to the public in a particular country if, by means of (state-of-the-art) geo-blocking, it is ensured that the website on which the work is published can only be accessed by the public in that country by circumventing the blocking measure using a VPN or similar service? Is the extent to which the public in the blocked country is willing and able to access the website in question via such a service of relevance in that respect? In answering this question, does it make any difference whether, in addition to the measure of geo-blocking, other measures were taken to impede or discourage public access to the website in the blocked country?

(3) If the possibility of circumventing the blocking measure entails the communication of the work published on the internet to the public in the blocked country within the meaning of Article 3(1) of the Copyright Directive, is that communication made by the party who published the work on the internet, even though knowledge of that communication requires the intervention of the provider of the VPN or similar service in question?