📰 New article from TorrentFreak
EU’s Top Court: Geo-Blocking Protects Publishers in Copyright Disputes, VPNs Not Liable
Ever wonder if you can legally read a classic book online just because it’s public domain in the next country over? The EU’s top court just said yes, provided you put up a digital “No Trespassing” sign.
In a landmark ruling regarding The Diary of Anne Frank, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) decided that geo-blocking is a sufficient legal shield for publishers. Even though copyright terms vary across the EU—keeping the diary protected in the Netherlands while it’s free in Belgium—publishers don’t need 100% unbreakable walls. As long as they use “state-of-the-art” geo-blocking and clearly state that Dutch readers aren’t the intended audience, they aren’t infringing copyright.
Here’s the big takeaway: VPNs are off the hook. The court ruled that VPN providers are neutral intermediaries, not copyright infringers, even if users employ them to bypass those geo-blocks. You can’t blame the messenger (or the routing tool) for the post’s destination.
This decision strikes a delicate balance. It protects publishers’ rights without forcing them to slap login walls on content that should be freely available to the public in other member states. However, the case isn’t fully closed; the Dutch Supreme Court must still determine if the specific blocking technology used actually meets the “state-of-the-art” threshold. For now, though, it’s a win for digital accessibility and a clear boundary for VPN liability.