Internet Law
EU Countries Can Keep File Sharer Data Private in Civil Cases
Posted Jan 29, 2008, 04:15 pm CDT
By Molly McDonough
The European Union's top court ruled today that EU countries can refuse to disclose names of Internet file sharers in civil matters.
This is a blow to copyright holders fighting digital piracy, reports Reuters.
The European Court of Justice ruling comes in a dispute between a Spanish music rights holders association, Promusicae, and Spain's top telecoms operator Telefonica.
Telefonica had argued that it only had to disclose names in criminal cases, and the Court of Justice agreed.
"Community law does not require the member states, in order to ensure the effective protection of copyright, to lay down an obligation to disclose personal data in the context of civil proceedings," the court said in a statement (PDF).
Promusicae sought names of Telefonica Internet clients who shared copyright material on the Web using the KaZaA file exchange software, so it could start civil proceedings, which are less expensive to litigate than criminal proceedings, Reuters reports.
The court, however, noted in its statement that the rules don't preclude the possibility that EU countries will create an obligation that companies reveal personal data in civil proceedings.
Updated at 3:53 p.m. CT to indicate that EU countries are free to create a data-sharing obligation.
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