đ° New article from TorrentFreak
Pirate Site Blocking Is Legally Impossible in Bulgaria, Supreme Court Ruled
https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-site-blocking-is-legally-impossible-in-bulgaria-supreme-court-ruled/
Bulgaria has officially declared that blocking pirate sites is legally impossible under current law. In a final ruling earlier this year, the Supreme Court of Cassation sided with ISPs, overturning a lower court order that had mandated the blocking of major trackers like The Pirate Bay and Zamunda.
The core issue? A legislative gap. While EU law requires member states to provide mechanisms for injunctions against intermediaries, Bulgaria never fully transposed these provisions into its national copyright legislation. The court clarified that ISPs are merely conduits, and without specific national rules balancing freedom of information, judges simply cannot issue permanent blocking orders based on existing statutes.
This is a significant setback for rightsholders, who have been chasing these injunctions for nearly two decades. However, itâs not the end of the road. The Bulgarian Association of Music Producers is urging the EU to ensure members properly implement existing directives. Meanwhile, lawmakers have been drafting amendments since 2022 to fix this loophole, though nothing has passed yet.
Interestingly, Bulgaria did recently shed its U.S. copyright âWatch Listâ status thanks to direct enforcement actions, like shutting down trackers with U.S. help. So, while the courts are stumped, the country isnât entirely off the hook. Until the new legislation lands, rightsholders are stuck in legal limbo.