Press release: The rights holders, led by TONO and IFPI, will not appeal the Court of Appeal's ruling in the Telenor case to the Supreme Court.
/ 12/03/2010 / codexNorwegian and foreign copyright holders have tried in two courts to order Telenor to block their subscribers' access to The Pirate Bay. They have now decided not to appeal further. – We wanted to get legal clarification on whether it is possible under Norwegian law to order internet providers to block access to The Pirate Bay, says TONO's director Cato Strøm. We have now received two clear decisions that there is no legal basis in Norwegian law for such a blocking requirement. Both courts are going to great lengths to forward the case to the legislature. Both Asker and Bærum District Court and Borgarting Court of Appeal believe that Telenor is contributing to illegal acts taking place via The Pirate Bay, but that this contribution is not unlawful under Norwegian law. – We interpret both decisions to mean that questions must now be raised as to whether the EU Copyright Directive has been sufficiently implemented in Norwegian legislation, Strøm continues. We assume that this is an issue that the legislature must now address in the ongoing legislative revision.
Marte Thorsby, director of IFPI, believes that clearer legislation must be put in place. – Now two courts have passed the ball to the Ministry of Culture. For us, it is felt to be a waste of time and financial resources to pursue this further. We believe that the decisions from the two courts are so clear that the legislator must now have a strong incentive to put in place clearer regulation in this area, says Thorsby. – The Court of Appeal writes in its ruling that the limits of contributory liability are unclear, and we expect that the ongoing revision of the Copyright Act will close this legal “gap”, concludes Thorsby.
Norwegian and foreign copyright holders have attempted to obtain a temporary injunction against Telenor with a demand to block The Pirate Bay in two instances of law. The first round took place in Asker and Bærum District Court in October. The District Court did not rule in favor of the copyright holders. In December, the case was appealed to Borgarting Court of Appeal. In early February, the Court of Appeal's ruling came: TONO, IFPI and the other copyright holders were not successful in their appeal.
Cato Strøm, Director of TONOMobil: 92 21 63 19 E-mail: cato.strom@tono.no Marte Thorsby, Director of IFPI NorgeMobil: 99 60 29 59 E-mail: marte.thorsby@ifpi.no