ISP Cannot Be Required To Install A Filter To Prevent Illegal File Downloading

Scarlet Extended SAV Société Belge des Auters, Compositeurs et Éditeur Scrl, Case C- 70/10

A Belgium court imposed an order on Scarlet to introduce a system to filter electronic communications and to block access by its customers to files containing infringing copies of musical works.

The EU held that this order was incompatible with EU law. The order did not comply with the prohibition on imposing a general monitoring obligation on an ISP or with the requirement to strike a fair balance between (i) the right to intellectual property and (ii) the freedom to conduct business, the right to protection of personal data and the freedom to receive or impart information. The order to monitor all electronic communications without limitation in time and in order to protect not only existing works but future works not yet created would result in a serious infringement of the ISP's freedom to conduct his business, since it would require the ISP to install a complicated,