By decision last Friday, the 21st Civil Chamber of the Munich I Regional Court submitted questions to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg in a preliminary ruling request concerning the interpretation of European copyright regulations.
The background is a legal dispute in which a publisher sued the owner of an internet connection for damages because an audiobook by author D. B. was unlawfully offered to other internet users for download via his connection through file sharing. The defendant denied having committed the infringement. At the same time, he stated that his parents also had access to his internet connection.
The Regional Court interprets a recently published ruling by the Federal Court of Justice (Ref. I ZR 154/15) concerning file-sharing to mean that in such circumstances, the internet account holder cannot be held liable for damages, as third parties could also be considered perpetrators of the infringement. However, since a lawsuit by the publisher against the parents, who are only known to have general access to the internet connection in question, would likely have little chance of success, the chamber has referred the question to the European Court of Justice whether such an application of the copyright claim for damages constitutes an effective and deterrent sanction for copyright infringements via file-sharing, as required by European law from Member States (Directives 2001/29/EC and 2004/48/EC).
Source: Press Release 01/17 of the Munich I Regional Court in Civil Matters
Goldberg Attorneys at Law 2017
Attorney Michael Ullrich, LL.M. (Information Law)
Specialist Attorney for Information Technology Law
Email: info@goldberg.de
