Secondary Communication Under the EU Copyright Acquis After Tom Kabinet : Between Exhaustion and Securing Work’s Exploitation

Since the adoption of the InfoSoc Directive, the CJEU has been dealing with a variety of questions on the interpretation of the broad right of communication to the public. A substantial share of the references for a preliminary ruling concerns secondary communication, which relies on communication initially authorized by the right holder. Despite the seemingly clear language of Article 3(3) of the InfoSoc Directive denying the exhaustion of communication right, the Court has occasionally exempted secondary acts from the authorization of the right holder, relying on the arguments resembling the exhaustion principle of the right of distribution in respect of the tangible copies of a work. In the recent Tom Kabinet judgment, the CJEU denied the direct application of the principle in the case of the resale of e-books facilitated by the Tom Kabinet platform. Whereas the judgment is of significance to the future of the exhaustion principle under the acquis, this article focuses on its broader implications on secondary communication. The article argues that the decision is in line with the developments under the jurisprudence but is by no means a final say on the extent of exclusive control over secondary communication in the digital environment. Besides raising the question of appropriate boundaries of the exclusive rights and their role in the digital markets, the judgment invites the legislator to revise the framework and restore the legal certainty in respect of the scope of exclusive control over the work’s communication to the public