Social Networks, Consumers and Intellectual Property

Case-law commentary on Judgment 14/07300, of the Court of Great Instance of Paris, of August 7, 2018

Abstract

Do users of social networks have a consumer entity? If the answer to this question is affirmative, a catalog of rights is immediately activated, such as, for example, the legitimacy to initiate a judicial proceeding. European legislation on consumer rights is harmonized and has a very protective nature. Until now, in the interaction with social networks, the user was compelled to contract a "blank check" that involved the transfer of a large part of their rights, such as, for example, the copyright that might correspond to the transferee. The owner of the social network. But, the recent decision of the Court of Large Instance of Paris has reversed the legal position of a group of French consumers, who filed a class action against the social network Twitter, to give them the reason, after describing as "abusive" most clauses and condemn the social network to pay the French Consumer Association 30,000 euros. This paper analyzes this important judicial resolution, in order to draw the most relevant implications that impact on the right of consumers and users of the civil normative sector, in general, and in intellectual property-une création du droit- (Bergé, 2015), in particular.