EU court rules that ISPs can't be told to block pirate sites by national courts

Nody

Nov. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Belgacom SA’s Internet-service provider Scarlet can’t be forced by a national court to block users from illegally sharing music and video files, the European Union’s highest court said.

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A Belgian court last year sought the EU top tribunal’s guidance on whether forcing an ISP to stop illegal file sharing on its network is in line with the 27-nation bloc’s rules. Belgian music-copyright group Sabam, which represents authors and musicians, started the legal fight over the use of so-called peer-to-peer software for file sharing.

Belgacom, the largest telephone company in Belgium, won antitrust approval to acquire Scarlet in 2008. Scarlet is appealing a June 2007 Belgian court order to “make it impossible” for users to violate copyright laws, saying it would entail breaching customers’ privacy rights.

The EU’s top court in 2008 ruled in a case involving Telefonica SA’s Internet unit that ISPs may not have to reveal the identities of customers accused of illegal file sharing. The Belgian court said that ruling “was not sufficient” to settle Scarlet’s appeal.

[URL="http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-11-24/belgacom-isp-can-t-
be-told-to-block-file-sharing-eu-court-says.html"]Linky[/URL]

Finally some bloody sense in the court system and this should also give huge support to UPC et al against any future battles regarding RIAA et al.

Thor

Just saw this myself a few minutes ago, I was shocked to see it actually went the right way for a change.

This is great news for the long run when it comes to privacy.

What does this mean for Eircom! Will they no longer have to abide by the same rules as usual.

SirDelboy18

Eircom care to comment? I know there are a few drones lurking around with some pre-learned response waiting.

bealtine

Copyright holders seek ‘reasonable measures’ to halt piracy

http://www.siliconrepublic.com/comms/item/24695-copyright-holders-seek-a-r


"As such, the decision by the European Court of Justice yesterday, which effectively precludes national courts from granting injunctions forcing ISPs to monitor their networks to protect copyrighted work, is not seen as relevant."