Rechtbank Utrecht [District Court Utrecht], Civil law, Brein v. Mininova, ECLI:NL:RBUTR:2009:BJ6008

Document type
Court Decision
Country
This case dealt with the liability of a website operator that stored and made available torrent-files on his website. The District Court held that the storing of torrent-files is not a communication to the public and thus not a copyright infringement. The operator was held liable under tort law for structurally facilitating copyright infringements of its users. Because the operator of the torrent-website categorized the torrent-files, removed files that violated the website’s rules, gave advice on how to download files and incidentally uploaded files himself, the operator was not shielded from liability on the basis of the hosting safe harbor of Article 6:196c(4) of the Dutch Civil Code.
Country
Year
2009
Topic, claim, or defense
Copyright
Document type
Court Decision
Issuing entity
Lowest Domestic Court
Type of service provider
Host (Including Social Networks)
Type of law
Civil
General effect on immunity
Weakens Immunity