The internet can be a wild and wonderful place. Spreading from its humble roots 20 years ago into a world-changing, omnipresent, integral thing, it has encircled the entire globe and affects most of our everyday lives.
Being as new as it is, however, there are a lot of things about the internet that are not fully worked out. One of the major areas that still needs a bit of work is the world of law. Every country on the planet has very clearly defined and very specific laws. The internet, however, does not belong in a country. What happens when one country’s laws come up against another’s? What happens when it is not immediately clear which country’s laws are applicable?
Well, just one such matter happened recently in the realm of international copyright law. The matter in question was over a photographer, and whether she had rights to claim copyright infringement against a company with an out-of-country website aimed at out-of-country citizens.
After hearing both sides of the case, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled that because the case was being tried in the court where the damages occurred, the fact that the website was hosted out-of-country was irrelevant, and the fact that the website was accessible in the country where damages occurred was enough to render judgment.
While this may not seem like a big deal, having a large international court rule on such a broad topic is really rather important. Other cases will likely try to use as precedent, and we may start to see copyright law more easily crossing country borders.
Source: http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=f217a0e2-7f49-4947-a180-0f218f553c2b