Liability for Embedded Content
Embedded Links – What Are They?
Embedded links allow you to display third-party content on your own website as if it were your own content.
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.
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.
OLG Cologne (Judgment of 16.03.2012, Case No. 6 U 206/11): No Liability for Copyright Infringements Through Embedded Links
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.
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.
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.
Consequences for Practice
To avoid liability concerns, the following should be observed:
- It should be recognizable that the person responsible for the website, as identified in the imprint, does not control the content made visible through framing, which is stored outside their sphere of influence.
- They should not have visibly adopted the content as their own.
- The content should not be able to be viewed by internet users as originating from the operator.
Then, there should be no liability for legal violations through the content of the embedded frames.
A clear notice placed at the beginning of each such frame is helpful, which can read as follows:
“This service is provided to you by … Powered by ..”
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.
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.
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.
You can find the decision in the NRW Case Law Database