Filtering file-sharing breaches human rights, EU court rules

Reports of Judgment in ECJ Case C-70/10 Scarlet Extended SA v Société belge des auteurs, compositeurs et éditeurs SCRL (SABAM), November 2011.

The essence of the judgement was that EU law precludes the imposition of an injunction by a national court which requires an internet service provider (ISP) to install a filtering system with a view to preventing the illegal downloading of files.

Such an injunction does not comply with the prohibition on imposing a general monitoring obligation on such a provider, or with the requirement to strike a fair balance between, on the one hand, the right to intellectual property, and, on the other, the freedom to conduct business, the right to protection of personal data and the freedom to receive or impart information.

• Primary Source

ECJ: Press Release, No.126, 2011: Judgment in Case C-70/10 Scarlet Extended SA v Société belge des auteurs, compositeurs et éditeurs SCRL (SABAM) http://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2011-11/cp110126en.pdf

Website: European Digital Rights http://www.edri.org/

EDRI: Press Release, 24.11.11: Scarlet/Sabam Ruling a vital victory for Internet freedoms http://www.edri.org/scarlet_sabam_win

EuroISPA: Homepage http://www.euroispa.org/

EuroISPA: Press Release, 24.11.11: Scarlet Extended case: the European Court of Justice's clarification will foster innovation and growth. http://www.euroispa.org/files/111124_euroispa_press_release_scarlet_x20sabam.pdf

EurActiv, 25.11.11: EU court rules policing the Internet is illegal http://www.euractiv.com/infosociety/eu-court-rules-policing-internet-illegal-news-509215

Blog: Contentandcarrier, 24.11.11: who, like a block, hath denied my access: ECJ on internet filtering and blocking http://www.contentandcarrier.eu/?p=429

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