The claimant sought judicial review of legislative provisions requiring Internet Service Providers to become involved in regulation of copyright infringements by its subscribers. They asserted that the Act and proposed Order were contrary to European law.
Held: The request was refused. No obligation had yet fallen on the claimant, and the exact form and rules had not been settled. The anticipated obligations did properly relate to copyright infringement, and so did not go beyond obligations under European law.
Following the decision of the CJEU in Case C-275/05 Promusicae, held that the grounds for derogation under Article 15(1) of the e-Privacy Directive include all the legitimate aims listed in Article 13(1) of the Data Protection Directive.
Kenneth Parker J said: ‘It is not disputed that technical means of avoiding detection are available, for those knowledgeable and skilful enough to employ them. However, the central difficulty of this argument is that it rests upon assumptions about human behaviour. Experts can seek to establish a profile of those who engage in P2P file sharing, and their various reasons for doing so, and may then attempt to predict how these users may be likely to respond if confronted with the kind of regime that the DEA enacts. In theory, some may cease or substantially curtail their unlawful activities, substituting or not, for example, lawful downloading of music; others may simply seek other means to continue their unlawful activities, using whatever technical means are open. The final outcome is uncertain because it is notoriously difficult accurately to predict human behaviour’
Kenneth Parker J
[2011] EWHC 1021 (Admin)
Bailii
Copyright (Initial Obligations) (Sharing of Costs) Order 2011, Digital Economy Act 2010, Technical Standards Directive (Directive 98/34/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 June 1998, Electronic Commerce Directive (Directive 2000/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2000 on certain legal aspects of information society services, in particular electronic commerce, in the Internal Market, OJ 2000 L No 178), Privacy and Electronic Communications Directive, Communications Act 2003, Data Protection Act 1998, Data Protection (Processing of Sensitive Personal Data) Order 2000 (SI 2000/417)
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Google France and Google v Louis Vuitton Malletier (Intellectual Property) ECJ 23-Mar-2010
ECJ Trade marks Internet Search engine – Keyword advertising – Display, on the basis of keywords corresponding to trade marks, of links to sites of competitors of the proprietors of those marks or to sites . .
Cited – Commission v Germany (Rec 1994,p I-2039) (Judgment) ECJ 1-Jun-1994
ECJ 1. In proceedings under Article 169 of the Treaty, it is for the Commission to judge at what time it will bring an action for failure to fulfil obligations; the considerations which determine its choice of . .
Cited – Norwich Pharmacal Co and others v Customs and Excise Commissioners HL 26-Jun-1973
Innocent third Party May still have duty to assist
The plaintiffs sought discovery from the defendants of documents received by them innocently in the exercise of their statutory functions. They sought to identify people who had been importing drugs unlawfully manufactured in breach of their . .
Cited – Liga Portuguesa De Futebol Profissional and Another (Freedom To Provide Services) ECJ 14-Oct-2008
ECJ (Opinion of Advocate General Bot) Legislation of a Member State granting a single entity an exclusive right to organise and operate betting on the internet ‘Technical regulation’ within the meaning of . .
Cited – CIA Security International v Signalson and Securitel ECJ 30-Apr-1996
1. Under the procedure provided for by Article 177 of the Treaty, it is for the national court to assess the scope of national provisions and the manner in which they are to be applied. Since the national court is best placed to assess, in view of . .
Cited – Productores de Musica de Espana (Promusicae) v Telefonica de Espana SAU ECJ 29-Jan-2008
ECJ Information society Obligations of providers of services Retention and disclosure of certain traffic data Obligation of disclosure Limits Protection of the confidentiality of electronic communications . .
Cited – Productores de Musica de Espana (Promusicae) v Telefonica de Espana SAU ECJ 18-Jul-2007
The provisions of article 13, as referred to in article 15(1) of Directive 2002/58/EC concerning the processing of personal data and the protection of privacy in the electronic communications sector ([2002] OJ L201/37) must be interpreted as . .
Cited – Telecom Italia v Ministero dell’Economia e delle Finanze, Ministero delle Comunicazioni (Freedom To Provide Services) ECJ 21-Feb-2008
ECJ Telecommunications services Directive 97/13/EC Articles 6, 11, 22 and 25 Fees and charges for general authorisations and individual licences Obligation on former holders of exclusive rights Temporary . .
Cited – Wilson v First County Trust Ltd (1) CA 3-Nov-2000
The administrative charges for entering into a loan were not to be included in the loan, but rather as an item entering into the total charge for credit. To hold otherwise went against accounting practice, would disguise the cost of the loan, and . .
Cited by:
Cited – Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp and Others v British Telecommunications Plc ChD 28-Jul-2011
The claimant rights holders sought an order to require the defendant broadband internet provider to deny access to its users to websites which were said to facilitate the distribution of infringing copies of their films. An earlier judgment had . .
Cited – Secretary of State for The Home Department v Davis MP and Others CA 20-Nov-2015
The Secretary of State appealed against a ruling that section 1 of the 2014 Act was inconsistent wih European law.
Held: The following questions were referred to the CJEU:
(1) Did the CJEU in Digital Rights Ireland intend to lay down . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Intellectual Property, European, Information
Updated: 02 November 2021; Ref: scu.434869