Embedded links allow you to display third-party content on your own website as if it were your own content.<\/p>\n
This third-party content is shown on your own website. In the decided case, this third-party content was displayed with a frame, sometimes as a banner.<\/p>\n
Until now, it was unclear whether and under what conditions the person embedding such third-party content is responsible for legal violations, for example, if copyright infringements occur with images.<\/p>\n
With the judgment of the OLG Cologne from 16.03.2012, Case No. 6 U 206\/11, the court has answered this highly controversial legal question and stated that liability for copyright infringements through embedded links is not established.<\/p>\n
In the decided case, parts of an online catalog of a travel provider were taken over by the operator of a website who received a cease and desist letter, in such a way that the content of the tour operator was displayed in frames, the content of which was fed via so-called embedded links.<\/p>\n
The Higher Regional Court is of the opinion that in such a case, where it is also apparent to the viewer through appropriate notices that the content does not originate from the website operator itself but from a third party, a copyright infringement for the displayed content is not to be seen.<\/p>\n
To avoid liability concerns, the following should be observed:<\/p>\n
Then, there should be no liability for legal violations through the content of the embedded frames.<\/p>\n
A clear notice placed at the beginning of each such frame is helpful, which can read as follows:<\/p>\n
\u201cThis service is provided to you by … Powered by ..\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
Through such a notice, a reasonable internet user (who is the standard for examining a possible legal violation) can easily recognize that the website operator is not responsible for the embedded content, but merely offers interested parties easier access to this third-party service.<\/p>\n
Not conclusively addressed by the OLG Cologne, but presumably approved by it, the OLG Cologne suggests that mere framing is generally not to be seen as a copyright exploitation act by the operator of the website on which the embedded link to the third-party content is located. In the disputed case, however, this did not require a final decision, as the Senate had already concluded from the above considerations that there was no infringing act.<\/p>\n
At least in cases where there is a correspondingly clear indication that the embedded information is third-party content, a copyright infringement will probably no longer be assumed.<\/p>\n