Soon the European Court of Justice will have to decide whether an Internet service provider can be forced by a music rights group to proactively filter all of its traffic – both inbound and outbound – for copyright infringements. As detailed in a new paper by intellectual property expert Cedric Manara, the notion is fraught with difficulties and the potential for collateral damage huge.
While most eyes are on the Internet-breaking potential of the proposed PROTECT IP and SOPA legislations in the United States, there is a huge decision pending for the European Court of Justice.
The case involves the Belgian music rights group SABAM and Internet service provider Scarlet. The pair have been locking horns for some time, with the former demanding that the latter install filtering devices on its network to monitor customer communications and stop them if they attempt to send or receive copyrighted music.
In 2007 SABAM initially won their case, but the mandated Audible Magic fingerprinting system did not perform which meant that Scarlet could not comply with the court order. The court reversed its decision and the case went to the Brussels Court of Appeal. The case is now awaiting a ruling from the European Court Of Justice.
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