The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) has specified the prerequisite for network blocking in the event of copyright infringement. The highest German civil court confirmed that such a block can only be demanded if a rights holder has exhausted all reasonable means. The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) ruled on Thursday in Karlsruhe that a procedure for interim legal protection is generally reasonable against an operator based in the EU. Blocking is the last resort.
Thus, scientific publishers were unsuccessful in their appeal in proceedings against Telekom (Az. I ZR 111/21). The publishers from Germany, the USA and Great Britain had requested a blocking of the websites of the “LibGen” and “Sci-Hub” services because articles and books were published there without the consent of the rights holders. The Munich Higher Regional Court dismissed the lawsuit: the publishers should first have contacted the Sweden-based host provider of the two Internet services.
The BGH stayed on the line of its previous case law: In 2015 it decided that Telekom and other Internet providers must block illegal websites on the web – but only if the rights holders have done everything possible to take action against the pirate copiers.
Deadline notice from the BGH Federal Network Agency for blocking
