In 2015, a coalition of copyright holders lost a court case which demanded an ISP blockade of The Pirate Bay in Sweden. A year later and Universal Music, Sony Music, Warner Music and Nordisk Film are back, hoping for a victory in a brand new court that could open the floodgates for widespread website blocking.
In 2015, a coalition of copyright holders lost a court case which demanded an ISP blockade of The Pirate Bay in Sweden. A year later and Universal Music, Sony Music, Warner Music and Nordisk Film are back, hoping for a victory in a brand new court that could open the floodgates for widespread website blocking.
Of all websites in the piracy landscape, few can claim to be as hounded as The Pirate Bay (TPB). Due to its resilience and refusal to step into line, the site has been at the core of dozens of direct and indirect court cases for more than a decade.
Today, another process gets underway, with yet another Internet service provider arguing that it should not be held responsible for the actions of The Pirate Bay, or its pirating users.
The case has its roots back in 2014, when Universal Music, Sony Music, Warner Music, Nordisk Film and the Swedish Film Industry teamed up in a lawsuit designed to force Swedish ISP Bredbandsbolaget (Broadband Company) to block the site.
The rightsholders argued that Bredbandsbolaget should be held liable unless it blocked TPB, but the ISP refused to comply. It stated that its only role is to provide customers with Internet access while facilitating the free flow of information.
The case originally went to trial at the Stockholm District Court last October. In line with several other similar rulings elsewhere in Europe, the ISP was expected to lose its case. Instead, it prevailed, with the District Court concluding that Bredbandsbolaget’s actions in facilitating access to the site did not amount to participation in a crime under Swedish law.
Of course, the rightsholders inevitably filed an appeal and today, almost exactly a year later, the parties are set to face off again in a brand new, dedicated venue.
Since September 2016, Sweden has had two new courts. The Patent and Market Court and the Patent and Market Court of Appeal are specialist courts dedicated to tackling intellectual property, competition, and marketing law matters.
The Patent and Market Court is a division of Stockholm District Court while the Patent and Market Court of Appeal is a division of the Svea Court of Appeal. Today’s Pirate Bay case will be heard at the latter.
Bredbandsbolaget’s position remains unchanged. The ISP wants to remain a neutral supplier of Internet connectivity and is alarmed at the prospect of being held liable for any content passing through its infrastructure. While today the discussion is about copyrighted movies, TV shows and music, tomorrow it could be about other offenses allegedly carried out online. The scope is enormous.
Per Strömbäck, representing the copyright holders, told IDG that ISPs like Bredbandsbolaget have knowledge of infringing acts but choose to do nothing about them. This is something the content companies want to change.
“We want to get to a point where a court can order an Internet service provider to block subscribers from accessing an illegal site. The telecom companies will not make that decision themselves,” he says.
A defeat for Bredbandsbolaget in this appeal could have far-reaching consequences. As seen in other countries around Europe, once rightsholders succeed in getting one site blocked, the floodgates open with dozens, perhaps hundreds, of similar requests to block additional domains.
The case begins today and is expected to conclude on Thursday.