Photographing a painting without permission and placing the photograph on the website is prohibited. Photographing or scanning a photograph without permission and placing it on the website is prohibited. Systematic and repeated reproduction and presentation through the website of database content are prohibited. A database is understood to be any collection of works, data, or other independent elements, organized systematically or methodically, with individual access. Within this framework, a database can be the printed or online edition of a newspaper, a website, an encyclopedia, a dictionary, and generally any collection of information, regardless of their value or content. The same applies to Greek and foreign news agency websites. The contents of a database are protected when their presentation, acquisition, or verification required significant investments, such as money, time, work hours, expertise. Reproduction and reuse on the website of all or a substantial part of the database content are prohibited. A substantial part may also constitute individual information with particular value, as its presentation, acquisition, or verification required significant investments, such as money, time, work hours, expertise. Reproduction and publication on the website of a substantial part of the database content are allowed as long as it is not frequent, systematic, repeated, and does not harm the legitimate interests of the database creator. Thus, the reproduction and republication of a non-protected by copyright news item sporadically or not regularly is generally permitted. However, this does not apply when reproducing an original work, for example, an original text. In such cases, permission is always required. The reproduction of news or simple information is generally allowed. However, when the news is included in an article or section of a newspaper or magazine, distinguishing simple news from potentially protected elements is not easy. The originality of literary works is evaluated based on their composition and expression. Transmitting news in an original expressive way (personal writing style of the journalist, evaluative judgments, expression of opinion, etc.) can make the whole a protected journalistic article, which is protected like other literary works. Therefore, it is advisable to isolate only the news and transmit it using other expressive means rather than reproducing the text of another author on the website (i.e., conveying the news in our own words). The concept of reproduction includes scanning as well. The reproduction of a legislative text or a judicial decision is generally allowed, except when there is systematic and repeated extraction, reproduction, extraction, and reuse from the database of an organization or a company that has made substantial investments in acquiring, presenting, or verifying the content of the database. This may occur, for example, when someone regularly downloads laws or decisions from a legal database (e.g., the Official Gazette) and makes them available to the public through their website, even if not for commercial purposes. The concept of reproduction includes scanning as well.
According to Article 19 of Law 2121/1993, the brief quotation of another lawfully published work is permitted to support the opinion of the quoter or for criticism, provided that the quotation is in accordance with fair practice and its extent is justified by the intended purpose.
The quotation of the excerpt must be accompanied by an indication of the source and the names of the author and the publisher, if these names appear in the source. This exception to copyright protection must be applied with particular care. Quoting brief excerpts is allowed for two strictly defined reasons: to support the opinion of the quoter and to exercise criticism. This means that quoting the entire text of a third party without their permission or quoting solely for the purpose of informing the public is not allowed. The provision covers the quoting of excerpts from original works of any content in the form of references and notes incorporated into a new work.
Someone who wants to refer to a speech, for example, by a political figure, or to an opinion article by a journalist, or to the text of an expert, for example, a sociologist or a constitutional lawyer, must use a brief excerpt from the third party’s work to support their own opinion or for criticism and incorporate it into their own original text with reference to the author’s name and the publisher. For example, in their own article where they critique the opinion of the author or the speaker, and where they may directly quote a brief excerpt from the third party’s text or speech.
The placement of a deep link to the content of a newspaper, magazine, or website, bypassing the home page, may also be considered illegal. Referring only to the main website is recommended. This applies whether the referral concerns original texts or simple news. The use of musical works, with or without lyrics, is illegal without permission. The screening of videos, movies, television programs, video clips, advertisements, and any kind of audiovisual material is also illegal without permission.
Furthermore, any announcement or publication of information, or discussion or exchange of information through the forum of the website on how to circumvent or neutralize technological means of copyright protection or advice for piracy of works is prohibited.
