Rip-off with porn lands in front of EU court
A letterbox company from Cyprus wants to force providers to divulge their users. The decision is now to be taken by the European Court of Justice. His verdict could spoil the business's warning business.
The Pornoabzocker drive in half Europe mischief. A dubious letterbox company in tax haven Cyprus covers internet providers with suits. The providers are to give names and addresses of users who suck on Bittorrent illegal porn.
Not everyone likes the business model. The Belgian provider BVBA Telenet, however, defends itself in court. Now the case lands with the highest instance, the European Court of Justice.
It is a fundamental trade-off between copyright and data protection, writes the journal Global Data Review, which first reported on the case.
The verdict could have drastic consequences - especially in Germany. For years, lawyers send warnings to German users, in which they demand money for allegedly illegal file sharing.
Privacy could be copyrighted
The EU court could put an end to the hated warning industry, lawyers believe. "The decision could indeed have a significant impact in Germany," says Ulf Buermeyer of the Society for Freedom.
The protection of privacy could surpass copyright, says the lawyer. So far, there is a legal basis in German copyright law (UrhG § 101) to require the personal details of followers by court order.
But is that compatible with EU data protection law? If the EU court draws the borders closer, German courts would have to react, says Buermeyer.
Judgment on copyright trolls
The Belgian case, however, is about more than just privacy. The EU court should also decide whether so-called copyright trolling is allowed. By this one understands companies or persons, who earn their living with reminder letters.
The applicant in Belgium is M.I.C.M. Mircom, based in Nicosia in Cyprus. She secures rights to porn from the US and Canada, but she only buys the rights to distribute through peer-to-peer networks.
Who is actually behind Mircom, is so far unclear. There is no website or telephone number on the internet. A glance at the company register provides only a postal address in Nicosia, as a company boss another letterbox company is registered at the same address.
Mircom is hunting for porn fans in half of Europe with the acquired rights. According to lawyers in Sweden and Germany, the company also sent warnings there. The issues were "My Moms Best Friend" and "Girls Kissing Girls 15".
In the UK Mircom flashed in July before the supreme court. There, the company had also complained providers to get contact information from Downloadern.
"Rather piracy than fighting it"
The Belgian court says that Mircom's business model "depends more on the existence of piracy than on the fight against it". It asks the EU Court whether copyright trolls have the same rights as authors and classic licensees.
"It's a political case," says Belgian lawyer Benoit Van Asbroeck. He represents the Belgian provider in court. The case gives the court the opportunity to differentiate between real rightholders and trolls, he says on netzpolitik.org.
Our attempts to reach the backers of Mircom went nowhere. No one responded to e-mails to law firms representing Mircom. A letter sent by netzpolitik.org by telegram to the address in Cyprus has so far remained unanswered.
But the silence has an end. The Mircom case has been in the EU court in Luxembourg since August. A first hearing is expected after the summer of 2020. The judges may then devote themselves to the business model of the Abmahnfirma - and movies such as "My Moms Best Friend".
