The CJEU and the Educational Exception in Renckhoff: Permitted to view but not to share?

Abstract

The scope of communication to the public right under Art3 of the InfoSoc is, arguably, amorphous. The jurisprudence developed by the CJEU has transcended the purpose of WIPO Copyright Treaty which the InfoSoc intended to implement. When the CJEU gave its decision in Svensson, it appeared that status of right had been settled. However, the decision in Renckhoff compounded the nature of the right when the CJEU held that reposting of unrestricted images in public domain required authorisation. The CJEU missed the opportunity of interpreting the teaching and education exception in the digital environment prompting the question of how far-reaching this exemption could accommodation new methods of learning. This chapter looks at the teaching exception under the EU InfoSoc Directive. It considers the implication of this decision for online teaching and learning in an era where teaching pedagogy is relying on materials sourced from the open internet, and there is a shift from passive learning to active learning which requires students to create their learning materials. This chapter concludes that Renckhoff poses a threat to the right to education. Its impact will extend to other platforms that support innovative and transformative use of existing materials.