24
MAGYAR JETI ZRT v. HUNGARY JUDGMENT
mutandis, Magyar Tartalomszolgáltatók Egyesülete and Index.hu Zrt, cited
above, § 89). In the Court’s view, such objective liability may have
foreseeable negative consequences on the flow of information on the
Internet, impelling article authors and publishers to refrain altogether from
hyperlinking to material over whose changeable content they have no
control. This may have, directly or indirectly, a chilling effect on freedom of
expression on the Internet.
84. Based on the above, the Court finds that the domestic courts’
imposition of objective liability on the applicant company was not based on
relevant and sufficient grounds. Therefore, the measure constituted a
disproportionate restriction on its right to freedom of expression.
85. Accordingly, there has been a violation of Article 10 of the
Convention.
II. APPLICATION OF ARTICLE 41 OF THE CONVENTION
86. Article 41 of the Convention provides:
“If the Court finds that there has been a violation of the Convention or the Protocols
thereto, and if the internal law of the High Contracting Party concerned allows only
partial reparation to be made, the Court shall, if necessary, afford just satisfaction to
the injured party.”
A. Damage
87. The applicant company did not submit any claim in respect of nonpecuniary damage. However, it claimed 597.04 euros (EUR) in respect of
pecuniary damage. This sum corresponded to the amount which the
applicant company had been ordered to pay in respect of court fees and to
the plaintiff political party in respect of the latter’s legal costs in the
domestic proceedings.
88. The Government contested this claim.
89. The Court accepts that there is a causal link between the violation
found and the pecuniary damage alleged; it therefore awards the sum
claimed in full.
B. Costs and expenses
90. The applicant company also claimed EUR 1,792.20 for the costs and
expenses incurred before the domestic courts, which comprised
EUR 1,451.91 for lawyers’ fees amounting to 100 hours at an hourly rate of
16 United States dollars (USD), and EUR 340.29 for lawyers’ fees
amounting to fifteen hours at an hourly rate of USD 25. The applicant
company also claimed EUR 2,357.19 for costs and expenses incurred before
the Court, which comprised EUR 2,060 for translation costs and
EUR 297.19 for organisational costs.
The applicant company’s total claim for costs and expenses came to
EUR 4,149.39.