EU Internet Providers Can ID Customers Accused of Illegal Downloads

LUXEMBOURG (CN) — European internet service providers can hand over the personal details of customers who are accused of illegally downloading content, the EU's top court ruled Thursday. 

The Court of Justice of the European Union found that, in some cases, internet providers can be compelled to hand over the names and addresses of their customers, so long as the requests are justified, proportionate and not abusive. 

“The registration of IP addresses of persons whose internet connections have been used to upload pieces of files containing protected works on peer-to-peer networks, for the purposes of filing a request for disclosure of the names and postal addresses of the holders of those IP addresses, can be regarded as lawful,” the five-judge panel wrote. 

The case was referred to the Luxembourg-based court by a court in Antwerp, Belgium, after Belgium’s largest internet provider, Telenet, refused to hand over the names and addresses of its customers that a Cyprus-based company, Mircom, had requested during a copyright infringement investigation. 

Mircom, short for Mircom International Content Management Consulting, calls itself a “copyright protection service,” a company that enforces intellectual property rights for others. In this case, it was acting on behalf of several American and Canadian erotic film companies. 

Mircom demanded the details of thousands of Belgian Telenet customers for allegedly using BitTorrent, a peer-to-peer file sharing service, to illegally download films like "Malibu Massage Parlor 3" and "The Girl Next Door 16." The service works by dividing a file into small pieces which people can download from multiple sources and then compile into the original file. Telenet argued that its users shared less than 20% of the original work, which wouldn’t violate the copyright. 

The Court of Justice’s Fifth Chamber was unsympathetic to Telenet’s argument.

“The fact that a user does not succeed, individually, in downloading the entire original file does not prevent him or her from making available to his or her peers the pieces of that file which he or she has managed to download onto his or her computer and that he or she thus contributes to the creation of a situation in which, ultimately, all the users participating in the swarm have access to the complete file,” the court wrote. 

Furthermore, Telenet argued that Mircom is a copyright troll and isn’t entitled to pursue the claims. According to the referring court, Mircom matches the definition of a copyright troll, defined as a company that doesn’t produce or own the work in question but holds a right to pursue copyright violations, “almost perfectly.”

But the EU's highest court found that unless Mircom engages in “abusive” behavior, the company is free to pursue copyright claims. 

However, the court cautioned that Telenet cannot be forced to disclose a customer's personal information simply so a company can bring legal proceedings. Rather, it found that EU member states may pass national legislation which could compel companies to do so. Such legislation must, according to Thursday’s decision, be “justified, proportionate and not abusive.” 

The case now returns to the Belgian court for a final ruling. 

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