International. In the broadcast industry, it has not yet been defined whether programs produced for television when broadcast over the Internet are considered traditional television or independent data consumption. But in Europe, steps are beginning to be taken that could serve as a point of reference for other countries.
The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled in favor of producers and channels, and from now on those who broadcast their content through the Internet without prior authorization would be violating copyright. In this way, they will have greater control over their own that are broadcast on the web.
This is the result of a lawsuit filed by several television channels against the portal of British origin TVCatchup, which is dedicated to transmitting the television signal of open channels over the Internet. The lawsuit alleged infringement of their copyright in the original or acquired content.
According to the ruling, TVCatchup has been violating since 2001 the European standard that strictly indicates to the broadcasters of content the use of the same, prohibiting its emission when they consider necessary. The argument is that TVCatchup deals with communication content that reaches a large audience through a specific technical medium different from that of the original communication and that is why the transmission is a communication that requires approval from the original authors.
For their part, in statements to local media, the representatives of TVCatchup assured that this decision does not affect them, because the contents that link the judicial decision only represent 30% of their offer.
