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The new Internet liability regime for Internet piracy copyright breaches in Italy is now not only into force but also enforced with the first order by the Italian communications authority (AGCOM) to Internet service providers (ISPs) to block the access to a website where movies in breach of copyright holders’ rights were made available.
I previously discussed about the notice and take down procedure for copyright breaches on the Internet recently introduced in Italy. The regulations setting out such procedure prescribe a summary judgement for such breaches whose duration is of 35 days shortened to only 12 days in case of either massive or more relevant breaches. And the AGCOM held that the breach performed by the website www.cineblog-01.net fell under the category of massive breaches.
Interestingly in the dispute under issue, the AGCOM ascertained that only 11 movies were made available on the website in breach of copyright regulations, but the fact that further very recent movies were published on the site led the authority to “assume” that considerable additional breaches had occurred and therefore the fast proceeding for massive and more relevant breaches could be adopted.
Based on such interpretation, the AGCOM served upon the manager of the site a take down notice and following the expiry of a 3 days term with no response, it ordered to ISPs providing mere conduit services to deactivate the access to the site through the DNS blocking. This measure was adopted since the servers of the site are located abroad while interestingly a lighter regime applies to websites hosted in Italy.
If Italian ISPs will not comply with the blocking order within 2 days from its issue they might face a fine up to € 258,000. On the contrary, it is peculiar that the AGCOM cannot issue any sanction against the manager of the site breaching copyrights. It will be on the competent courts to issue the sanctions against the breaching party which in some cases include also criminal penalties and criminal corporate liabilities if the breach is performed by a company.
If Italian ISPs will not comply with the blocking order within 2 days from its issue they might face a fine up to € 258,000. On the contrary, it is peculiar that the AGCOM cannot issue any sanction against the manager of the site breaching copyrights. It will be on the competent courts to issue the sanctions against the breaching party which in some cases include also criminal penalties and criminal corporate liabilities if the breach is performed by a company.
This is a relevant case not only because it is the first test of the new procedure for copyright breaches occurring on the Internet, but also because according to commentators it is not clear whether the AGCOM deemed that the copyright breach on 11 movies was sufficient to trigger a massive breach or the mere assumption of further breaches was the element that led to the decision to rely on the fast procedure. Likewise, the blocking of the access to the site leads to the discussions previously covered as to the compliance of such measure with Italian and European laws which has been also challenged by the European Commission.
Future decisions from the AGCOM might provide better indications on the approach that they want to adopt in relation to the procedure for copyright breaches on the Internet. In the meantime, as usual, feel free to contact me, Giulio Coraggio (giulio.coraggio@gmail.com), to discuss. And follow me on my Facebook page, Twitter, Google+ and become one of my friends on LinkedIn.
Image courtesy of Flickr by Fotopedia
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