Linking to any content is not infringement. That’s what the European Court of Justice (CJEU) said in the Svensson case a couple of years ago. That case involved news aggregator linking to official sources. However, in a new case, the CJEU will examine if those linking to unauthorized versions of content is also considered infringing.
How to protect copyright pictures?
The best way is ensuring that all your photos are copyrighted. The case was about the pre-publication of Playboy photos in the Netherlands. According to a lower court, it was not copyright infringement. However, by facilitating access, the law was still broken.
This case is rather important as it links to the previous ruling that linking is not infringement. Everyone must consider whether they are linking to copyrighted content or not. You don’t want to end up breaking the law.
If you’re a creator, you also don’t want people stealing your work. But there are many ways on how to protect copyright. For example, there are entities that protect digital content against copyright infringement. They work hard to defend the rights of every creator.