Parents Are (Not Always) Liable For Their Children's Conduct

On November 15, 2012, the German Federal Supreme Court (Bundesgerichtshof, "BGH") handed down an eagerly awaited landmark decision on the scope of parents' duty to monitor their children's internet activities and what measures parents have to take to prevent infringement of third parties' rights (Docket No. I ZR 74/12).

In this case, a physician's son—who was 13 years old when the conduct subject to the litigation occurred—had installed the file-sharing programs "Morpheus" and "Bearshare" on his computer without his parents' knowledge. File-sharing software enables a user to download files that are offered by third parties on the internet. At the same time, such software makes available the files stored on the user's computer, in particular music files, for other users to download and upload on their own computers. This activity constitutes an infringement of the copy and exploitation rights that exist with regard to the content of these files.