The
Court of Appeal in The Hague, Netherlands, denied the Scientologists’ latest
appeal in an online copyright dispute that dates back to 1995. The court also
overturned two previous rulings by the Amsterdam District Court of March 1996
and June 1999 that held that if a provider was made aware of illegal
publishing of copyrighted materials by their subscribers, or hyperlinks to
illegal or copyrighted information, it should take action and remove the website
or links.
Xs4all believes that "a hyperlink is merely a road
marker on the Internet, and can never be unlawful." Although not all
European courts will consent with that statement and the statement is in
contradiction to the law in some European countries, Xs4all won an important
copyright case, that significantly narrows the ability of copyright claims
against ISPs in the Netherlands based on "illegal" hyperlinks.
September 9, 2003: Hines,
Matt,
Hyperlinks
remain legal after Scientology defeat, ZDNet UK:
"The Church of Scientology has lost a courtroom battle to compel a
Dutch writer and her Internet service provider to remove postings from a Web
site, in a ruling that keeps hyperlinks to copyrighted material legal."
September 8, 2003: Libbenga,
Jan,
Scientologists
loses copyright case, The Register:
"The Court of Appeal in The Hague last week rejected all of the Church
of Scientology's claims its action against the Dutch ISP Xs4all, writer
Karin Spaink and ten other internet providers for publishing copyrighted
material on the web."
September 8, 2003:
Veröffentlichung
von Scientology-Dokumenten bleibt legal, Heise:
"Die niederländische Journalistin Karin
Spaink hat im jahrlangen juristischen Kampf gegen die Scientology-Organisation
erneut einen Sieg errungen."