‘YouTube does not have to provide IP and e-mail address of illegal uploader’

On the basis of European rules, YouTube is not required to provide the e-mail address, telephone number or IP address used to illegally put files online to a rightholder. The Advocate General advises the EU Court on this.

In case of infringement of an intellectual property right, according to the European Intellectual Property Rights Directive, courts can demand the ‘names and addresses’ of infringers, but this does not relate to the e-mail address, telephone number or IP address used in the infringement. post online. So writes Advocate General Saugmandsgaard Øe in his advice to the European Court of Justice. That advice is usually followed.

The case concerned YouTube and Google’s refusal to provide certain information requested by Constantin Film Verleih about users who had posted multiple films on the video platform. Those films were Parker and Scary Movie, which were put online in full length in German under the usernames N1, N2, and N3. The films, to which Constantin Film Verleih has the rights, were viewed thousands of times before they were taken offline.

Constantin wanted users’ email addresses, phone numbers and IP addresses and requested them from YouTube, but it refused to provide them. The publisher then went to court. After a rejection in the case at first instance, the Constantin was partly right on appeal: YouTube was obliged to provide the e-mail addresses. In the subsequent appeal, the Bundesgerichtshof sought an explanation of the concept of ‘addresses’ in Article 8(2)(a) of Directive 2004/48 Intellectual Property Rights.