Copyright case: Use of copyright protected content on Facebook, Estonia

In this case, the court held that according to the Facebook Terms of Service it is permissible to post copyright protected content on a Facebook timeline if this content has been already published on Facebook. The court also emphasised that the defendant would have been entitled to publish the post under Section 19 4) of the Estonian Copyright Act (free use exemption for journalists to report a public event) in any case. The objective of the Facebook post was not to insult or degrade the claimant, but to report to the public a current event and to illustrate the main circumstances of this event.

Case date: 11 November 2020

Case number: 2-18-751

Court: Tallin Circuit Court

A full summary of this case has been published on Kluwer IP Law.