Substantive aspects of the administrative proceedings for safeguarding intellectual property rights online

This paper aims to examine the substantive or material conditions established in Art. 158.4 Paragraph 2 of the Consolidated Text of the Spanish Law on Intellectual Property introduced by Final Provision 43 of Law 2/2011, of 4 March, on the Sustainable Economy for the Second Section of the Intellectual Property Commission to be able to order the removal of content or the interruption of information society services that violate intellectual property rights. In particular, this work examines what should constitute a violation of intellectual property rights for the purposes of the administrative proceedings for interrupting information society services or removing content violating these rights. A broad interpretation is proposed that includes both direct breaches committed against exclusive rights by information society service providers and indirect violations of intellectual property rights committed by intermediary service providers, specifically, link websites.