Hi Hotel HCF SARL v Uwe Spoering.
Date: 2014-04-03
17. In that respect, it must be recalled that, according to settled case-law of the Court, questions on the interpretation of EU law referred by a national court in the factual and legislative context which that court is responsible for defining enjoy a presumption of relevance (Case C‑327/12 SOA Nazionale Costruttori EU:C:2013:827, paragraph 20 and the case-law cited).
18. The Court may refuse to rule on a question referred by a national court only where it is quite obvious that the interpretation of EU law that is sought bears no relation to the actual facts of the main action or its purpose, where the problem is hypothetical, or where the Court does not have before it the factual or legal material necessary to give a useful answer to the questions submitted to it ( SOA Nazionale Costruttori EU:C:2013:827, paragraph 21 and the case-law cited).
20. For the application of Article 5(3) of Regulation No 44/2001, the court seised may regard as established, solely for the purpose of ascertaining whether it has jurisdiction under that provision, the applicant’s assertions as regards the conditions for liability in tort, delict or quasi-delict.
21. Whether those assertions are well founded falls solely within the scope of the examination of the substance of the case (see Case C‑170/12 Pinckney EU:C:2013:635, paragraph 40). Since Hi Hotel’s argument that the extent of the assignment of copyright to Hi Hotel has not yet been determined forms part of the substance of the main proceedings, it is not therefore capable of affecting the admissibility of the referring court’s question.
24. It should be recalled at the outset that the provisions of Regulation No 44/2001 must be interpreted independently, by reference to its scheme and purpose (Case C‑228/11 Melzer  EU:C:2013:305, paragraph 22 and the case-law cited).
25. Moreover, it is only by way of derogation from the fundamental principle laid down in Article 2(1) of Regulation No 44/2001, attributing jurisdiction to the courts of the Member State in which the defendant is domiciled, that Chapter II, Section 2, of the regulation makes provision for certain cases of special jurisdiction, including that laid down in Article 5(3) of the regulation ( Melzer EU:C:2013:305, paragraph 23).
26. As the jurisdiction of the courts for the place where the harmful event occurred or may occur is a rule of special jurisdiction, it must be interpreted strictly and may not be given an interpretation going beyond the cases expressly envisaged by the regulation ( Melzer EU:C:2013:305, paragraph 24).
27. The fact remains that the expression ‘place where the harmful event occurred or may occur’ in Article 5(3) of Regulation No 44/2001 is intended to cover both the place where the damage occurred and the place of the causal event giving rise to the damage, so that the defendant may be sued, at the option of the applicant, in the courts for either of those two places ( Melzer EU:C:2013:305, paragraph 25 and the case-law cited).
28. In that respect, it is settled case-law that the rule of jurisdiction in Article 5(3) of that regulation is based on the existence of a particularly close connection between the dispute and the courts of the place where the harmful event occurred or may occur, which justifies the attribution of jurisdiction to those courts for reasons of the sound administration of justice and the efficacious conduct of proceedings ( Melzer EU:C:2013:305, paragraph 26 and the case-law cited).
29. Since the identification of one of the points of connection recognised by the case-law mentioned in paragraph 27 above must enable the jurisdiction to be established of the court objectively best placed to determine whether the elements establishing the liability of the person sued are present, it follows that the only court which may properly be seised is the court within whose jurisdiction the relevant point of connection is situated (see, to that effect, Case C‑133/11 Folien Fischer and Fofitec EU:C:2012:664, paragraph 52, and Melzer EU:C:2013:305, paragraph 28).
31. As the Court has already noted, in circumstances in which one only of several supposed perp etrators of alleged damage is sued in a court within whose jurisdiction he has not acted, it cannot be considered that the causal event occurred within the jurisdiction of that court for the purposes of Article 5(3) of Regulation No 44/2001 (see Melzer EU:C:2013:305, paragraph 40).
32. Consequently, Article 5(3) of that regulation does not allow jurisdiction to be established on the basis of the place of the causal event with respect to one of the supposed perpetrators of the damage who has not acted within the jurisdiction of the court seised (see Melzer EU:C:2013:305, paragraph 41).
35. It should be noted that jurisdiction to hear an action in tort, delict or quasi-delict may be established in favour of the court seised of a claim for a finding of a breach of copyright, where the Member State in which that court is situated protects the rights of copyright relied on by the applicant and the alleged damage may occur within the jurisdiction of the court seised (see Pinckney  EU:C:2013:635, paragraph 43).
38. On the other hand, in so far as the protection afforded by the Member State of the court seised applies only in that Member State, the court seised on the basis of the place where the damage occurs has jurisdiction only to determine the damage caused in the territory of that State ( Pinckney EU:C:2013:635, paragraph 45).
39. The courts of other Member States in principle retain jurisdiction, in the light of Article 5(3) of Regulation No 44/2001 and the principle of territoriality, to rule on the damage to copyright caused in their respective Member States, given that they are best placed, first, to ascertain whether the rights of copyright guaranteed by the Member State concerned have in fact been infringed and, secondly, to determine the nature of the damage caused (see Pinckney EU:C:2013:635, paragraph 46).
40. In the light of the above considerations, the answer to the question is that Article 5(3) of Regulation No 44/2001 must be interpreted as meaning that, where there are several supposed perpetrators of damage allegedly caused to rights of copyright protected in the Member State of the court seised, that provision does not allow jurisdiction to be established, on the basis of the causal event of the damage, of a court within whose jurisdiction the supposed perpetrator who is being sued did not act, but does allow the jurisdiction of that court to be established on the basis of the place where the alleged damage occurs, provided that the damage may occur within the jurisdiction of the court seised. If that is the case, the court has jurisdiction only to rule on the damage caused in the territory of the Member State to which it belongs.
Costs