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Social Networks Don't Have to Filter Content, EU Court Says

A European court has ruled that social networks are not required to install filters to stop the sharing of copyrighted material.

February 16, 2012

A European court has ruled that social networks are not required to install filters to stop the sharing of copyrighted material.

The Luxembourg-based EU Court of Justice found that the installation of such filters would be too costly and complex and likely hamper the use of legitimate content.

The ruling comes after the Belgian Society of Authors, Composers, and Publishers (SABAM) sued Belgium-based social network Netlog over the distribution of copyrighted material on Netlog profiles.

As reported by the AP, SABAM lost another case back in November that called on ISPs to install filters that would stop illegal downloads.

As a result, SABAM said in a statement that it "takes note of [today's] ruling without surprise." Given the outcome of the November case, it was expected the EU Court of Justice "would adopt the same position," SABAM said.

"SABAM endeavours to define appropriate alternative measures that take this case law of the European Communities into consideration, with a view to protecting the authors and to managing their works efficiently," the group concluded.

In a statement, Netlog said the decision is "great news for the openness and neutrality that has made the Internet such a success."

"The guaranteed protection of fundamental rights for all Europeans is what makes Europe great place to work and live," a spokeswoman said via email. "We don't want to live in a society which makes it impossible for two young Europeans in a garage to create the next big thing. We do not support piracy at all and take adequate measures if we would notice a user infringing copyright laws."

The ruling comes as Europe is considering the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). Among other things, countries that sign ACTA can force infringers to hand over profits gained from pirated works to the rightsholders. They can also crack down quickly once evidence of infringement is presented, but must reimburse businesses that are found to not have actually trafficked in pirated goods.

ACTA was first proposed in 2007, and formal negotiations were launched in June 2008. The United States, Australia, Canada, Korea, Japan, New Zealand, Morocco, and Singapore signed ACTA on Oct. 1 and 22 of the 27 EU member states followed suit on Jan. 26, but it must still be ratified by the European Parliament.

On Saturday, opponents took to the streets in various European cities to protest ACTA, which some have likened to the U.S. Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and PROTECT IP Act (PIPA).

Editor's Note: This story was updated at 12:45pm Eastern with comment from Netlog.