The placing online of content on an internet website is to be distinguished from the regional distribution of printed matter, according to a judgment from the Court of Justice of the EU. Victims of infringements of personality rights by means of the internet may bring actions before the courts of the Member State in which they reside in respect of all of the damage caused.

The Court of Justice of the EU holds in a judgment of two different cases that the placing online of content on an internet website is to be distinguished from the regional distribution of printed matter by reason of the fact that it can be consulted instantly by an indefinite number of internet users world-wide. According to the Court, victims of infringements of personality rights by means of the internet may bring actions before the courts of the Member State in which they reside in respect of all of the damage caused. However, the operator of an internet website covered by the e-commerce directive cannot be made subject, in that State, to stricter requirements than those provided for by the law of the Member State in which it is established.

In its judgment on the case of a company established in Austria but the German court requested it to remove an specific content, and the case of a text written in English and entitled ‘Kylie Minogue is back with Olivier Martinez’ appeared on the website of a British newspaper but it was denounced to the French court, the Court establish that bearing in mind the universal distribution of the content throuhgout Internet, the infringements of personality might be increased. Given that the impact which material placed online is liable to have on an individual’s personality rights might best be assessed by the court of the place where the victim has his centre of interests.

The Court points out, however, that, in place of an action for liability in respect of all of the damage, the victim may always bring an action before the courts of each Member State in the territory of which the online content is or has been accessible. The person whose rights have been infringed may also bring an action, in respect of all of the damage caused, before the courts of the Member State in which the publisher of the online content is established.