The European Court Of Justice Case Pez Hejduk V Energy...

The summary of the European Court of Justice case: Pez Hejduk v Energy Agentur.NRW GmbH (C441/13) Ms Hejduk, domiciled in Vienna (Austria), is a professional photographer of architecture and creator of photographic works depicting the buildings of the Austrian architect, George W.Reinberg. Ms Hejduk authorised Mr Reinberg to use her photographs in order to illustrate his buildings, in a conference organised by Energie Agentur, a Germany based company. Subsequently, Energie Agentur made the photographs used by Mr Reinberg in his illustration available on its website in Germany for viewing and downloading without Ms Hejduk s consent. As a result, Ms Hejduk brought up an action before the Handelsgericht in Wien, for damages against Energie Agentur and for authorisation to publish the judgment at the expense of the defendant. That Energie Agentur has infringed her copyright for making her photographs publicly available without her consent and without providing a statement of authorship. Ms Hejduk in justifying the selection of that jurisdiction relies on Article 7(2) Regulation 1215/2012. Energie Agentur raised an objection to the issue of jurisdiction, that the Handelsgericht Wien lacked international and local jurisdiction, claiming that its website is not directed at Austria and that the mere fact that a website may be accessed from Austria is insufficient to confer jurisdiction on Austria court. The Handelsgericht Wien decided to stay the proceedings and referred the