Pirate Bay ban rejected
Norway’s Civil Court of Appeal has dismissed the music and film industry's appeal against the ISP Telenor, calling for a ban on access to torrent tracker the Pirate Bay.
Last year the Asker and Bærum District Court concluded that there was no basis in Norwegian law to force ISP Telenor to block its Internet customers access to the Swedish torrent tracker.
Norway’s music and film industry, fronted by TONO and the major international record companies' organization IFPI, appealed the decision. Now the Borgarting Court of Appeal endorsed the court review and dismissed the appeal, citing a lack of basis for the requirement in Norway’s laws as the main reason for the dismissal.
"According to intellectual property law sense, Telenor does not participate in liability in damages actions among their end users by facilitating access to their internet connection without blocking the Pirate Bay” the verdict reads.
Marte Thorsby, director of IFPI, comments on the decision in a press release this week:
- The Court of Appeal wrote in its ruling that the limits for contributing responsibility is unclear and that the Ministry of Culture must clarify this when they are to reassess the copyright laws again. This is, in other words, a "no man's land" in the current law, and that means users are free to upload copyright protected material on Norwegian P2P networks.
According to Cato Strøm, director of TONO, the court’s ruling indicates that the EU copyright directive is not properly implemented in Norwegian law.
The organizations have not yet had time to consider whether to appeal the rejection to the High Court.
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