While the US Congress is in heated conversations over how to deal with internet pirates, with proposed bills like SOPA and Protect IP, Europe’s highest court has taken a stand on the issue.
In a Thursday press release the Court of Justice of the European Union stated:
"EU law precludes the imposition of an injunction by a national court which requires an internet service provider to install a filtering system with a view to preventing the illegal downloading of files"
Copyright holders disappointed
As would be expected, statements by sources close to the entertainment industry in Europe say the judgement by the European Court of Justice protecting ISPs from injunctions is missing the point.
Much like their American counterparts, the European entertainment industry points to piracy of copyrighted material and shows how illegal downloads are hurting the entertainment industry and costing jobs.
Similar to the proposed SOPA and Protect IP, the European entertainment industry is hoping for a system where individual web sites having been proved in court as a source of pirated material by a copyright holder would then be blocked following an application to the High Court.
An important legal precedent?
Thursday's ruling has its origin in a dispute between Scarlet Extended SA, an internet service provider and SABAM, a Belgian management company which is responsible for authorizing the use by third parties of the musical works of authors, composers and editors.
SABAM established that users of Scarlet's services were downloading works in SABAM’s catalog from the internet, without authorization and without paying royalties, by means of peer-to-peer networks.
In their remarks the high court stated:
"... the Court finds that, in adopting the injunction requiring Scarlet to install such a filtering system, the national court would not be respecting the requirement that a fair balance be struck between the right to intellectual property, on the one hand, and the freedom to conduct business, the right to protection of personal data and the right to receive or impart information, on the other."
It will be interesting to see if any American lawmakers see the European ruling as an example of finding the delicate balance between copyright holders and internet users with the overhaul of proposed bills like SOPA and Protect IP.
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