From: POLITICO Pro Technology <politicoemail@politicopro.com mailto:politicoemail@politicopro.com > Subject: [Ext] EU top court: Platforms not required to hand over email, IP address of copyright infringers

EU top court: Platforms not required to hand over email, IP address of copyright infringers

By Laura Kayali

07/09/2020 08:16 AM EDT

BRUSSELS — Rights holders cannot force online platforms to hand over the email, IP address or telephone number of copyright infringers, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled Thursday.

“When a film is unlawfully uploaded onto an online platform, such as YouTube, the rightholder may, under the directive on the enforcement of intellectual property rights, require the operator to provide only the postal address of the user concerned, but not his or her email, IP address or telephone number,” the court said in a statement [politico.eu] https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.politico.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/CP200088EN-1.pdf?source=email__;!!PtGJab4!o7LCmPZuKjBfEoTbz4FXdl9jb0mznvQUHa1mDJptwAvGidh5r4K30VtvND_ne_WeANbo2zDMDA$ .

Constantin Film, which holds exclusive rights to exploit the movies ‘Parker’ and ‘Scary Movie 5,’ took YouTube and its parent company Google to court in Germany because the tech companies refused to communicate the email address, telephone number and IP addresses of users who uploaded those films illegally onto YouTube.

Germany’s federal court asked the CJEU whether Article 8 of the EU directive [eur-lex.europa.eu] https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX*3A32004L0048R*2801*29&source=email__;JSUl!!PtGJab4!o7LCmPZuKjBfEoTbz4FXdl9jb0mznvQUHa1mDJptwAvGidh5r4K30VtvND_ne_WeANavqUks_A$ on the enforcement of intellectual property rights, which grants rights holders a “right of information” on copyright infringers including name and address, covers email addresses, telephone numbers and IP addresses.

Following the advocate general’s conclusions, the court said no.

“The Court nevertheless stated that the member states have the option to grant holders of intellectual property rights the right to receive fuller information, provided, however, that a fair balance is struck between the various fundamental rights involved,” the CJEU added.