Safarov v. Azerbaijan: Decision of the European Court of Human Rights (Fifth Section) 1 September 2022 – Case No. 885/12

Protection of intellectual property rights, including the protection of copyright, falls within the scope of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. The reproduction of a book and its online publication, without the author’s consent, affects the right to peaceful enjoyment of the author’s possessions. The State has a positive obligation to take necessary measures (preventive or remedial) to protect the right to property, particularly where there is a direct link between the measures an applicant might legitimately expect from the authorities and his or her effective enjoyment of possessions, even in cases involving litigation between private parties. As regards remedial measures, States are under an obligation to afford judicial procedures that offer the necessary procedural guarantees and therefore enable the domestic courts and tribunals to adjudicate effectively and fairly any disputes between private persons. When a State’s domestic courts fail to provide reasons establishing that provisions of the Law on Copyright, relied on by them, could constitute legal grounds for the situation under appreciation, a State fails to discharge its positive obligation under Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to protect intellectual property notably through effective remedial measures.