Hamburg court: AdBlock Plus does not infringe website creators’ copyright

The court in Hamburg has ruled that AdBlock Plus does not infringe copyright. Publisher Axel Springer, who publishes some of Germany’s largest newspapers, wanted the judge to convict AdBlock Plus parent company Eyeo.

According to the court, it is not a copyright violation, because AdBlock Plus only changes the display of a website after the code has been transferred to the users’ computer, but does not come to the code of the website itself, Heise writes, among others. The statement itself is not yet available online.

The judge reasoned that users should have the freedom to make choices about how the code of a website is displayed. For example, users can choose not to load images to save bandwidth or, for example, disable JavaScript. Seeing an adjustment of the reproduction as a violation of copyright also affects that right, the judge argues.

Publisher Axel Springer, who owns newspapers such as Bild, had filed a lawsuit to ban AdBlock Plus in this way. Ad blockers cost publishers a lot of money, because they reduce the number of impressions of advertisements. Axel Springer says he will appeal the ruling.