YouTube not obliged to release traceable details of users in Germany, court rules

YouTube does not have to divulge exact details of users who illegally upload movies under pseudonyms. A German company had sought the email and IP addresses and telephone numbers to trace three users.

Germany's top civil appeal court ruled that YouTube was not required by EU and matching German copyright law to unmask three of its users who illegally uploaded two films "Parker" and "Scary Movie 5" about six years ago.

The court ruled that the company must only divulge the users' name and postal address — even if the name in question is a pseudonym and it has no physical address for the users.

Appealing two Frankfurt court rulings dating back to 2016 and 2017, the Munich-based film concern Constantin had demanded that YouTube also divulge the suspected copyright infringers' email and Internet (IP) addresses and telephone numbers, which would have enabled them to trace the individuals.

Constantin had wanted the full data lodged when YouTube users initially register, but only got alias details rather than valid names and addresses.

And, on Thursday, the civil chamber of Germany's Federal Court of Justice (BGH), based in Karlsruhe, agreed that disclosure of those details was not required — neither under the EU's 2004 copyright directive nor under Germany's associated copyright law.

That was despite the Google subsidiary nominally demanding that users who upload videos also state their name, their email address and date of birth. A telephone number is also required when up-loading a video longer than 15 minutes.

In cases of alleged infringement, "name and address" were required under the directive's Article 8 and paragraph 101 of Germany's matching law, said the BGH, but not email and IP addresses or telephone numbers of infringers. Prior to Thursday's verdict, the BGH had obtained a European Court of Justice (ECJ) confirmation in June that the term "addresses" did not incorporate email or IP addresses.

Infringement of intellectual property

Article 8 of EU's 2004 copyright directive allows "competent judicial authorities to intervene in disputes over infringement and rights to intellectual property.

The directive broadly applies to distribution networks or goods and services across the single market EU as well as intended wholesalers and retailer.

Currently, extended EU law covering internet platforms is still being transposed into German law, with debate still focused on so-called "upload filters" — programs designed to automatically scan content and to block videos it recognizes as infringing an existing copyright.

Constantin on its website warns that it will seek to prosecute any case of video piracy, claiming that it is not a victimless crime, but rather a trend that causes significant economic damage worldwide each year.