The EU Court of Justice has overturned a Belgian court ruling ordering ISP Scarlet to monitor its internet traffic in order to prevent copyright infringement by its customers. The case dates back to 2004 when the Belgian association of rightsholders Sabam took Scarlet to court, claiming its customers were violating copyright by downloading content from P2P networks. The Brussels Court of First Instance ordered Scarlet to implement at its own cost a technical solution to monitor traffic on its network and ensure the infringement ended. Scarlet appealed, and the Brussels Court of Appeal asked the EU court for its opinion. The Court of Justice has now ruled that an order for general monitoring of internet traffic violates the EU's e-commerce directive. While intellectual property is protected under the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU, the court found that this right was not inviolable. Furthermore the monitoring, which had no time limit and would cover all electronic communications on the network, would result in a "serious infringement of Scarlet's freedom to conduct its business", as it would require a costly, complicated investment by the ISP, the court said. Moreover such a system would infringe the fundamental rights of its customers, namely their right to protection of their personal data, such as IP addresses, and their right to receive or impart information, which are safeguarded by the Charter of Fundamental Rights. Freedom of information could be undermined if the system is unable to adequately distinguish between lawful and unlawful content, the court said. The rights of Scarlet and its customers in the end outweigh those of the intellectual property holders, according to the ruling. The Belgian ISP Association welcomed the ruling, saying it avoids a disproportionate burden on the industry and protects the open internet.
