Overview

Combating illicit file-sharing and unlawful online copyright infringement continues to be a hot topic for politicians around Europe. Following a referral from the Belgian Court of Appeal in the case of Scarlet -v- Sabam, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) was recently asked to decide on whether national courts may order ISPs to implement traffic-filtering mechanisms to prevent future online copyright infringements.

In parallel, in the UK, the Digital Economy Bill passed into law on 8 April, and the decision of the ECJ in Sabam may well influence how its provisions will be interpreted and applied by English courts.

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