ECJ: Operator of public Wi-Fi not liable for copyright infringements
by Ingrida Milkaite
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that the owner of a shop offering the public a free Wi-Fi network is not liable for copyright infringements committed by users of that network.
Public domain photo.
However, such an operator may be required to password-protect the network in order to bring an end to, or prevent, such infringements. (See Case C-484/14.)
The Court decided on a number of important issues at its 15 September ruling, which dealt with a lawsuit from Sony Music Entertainment GmbH against the shop owner. For instance, it noted that the free public Wi-Fi service provided…
